


In the Eyes of Angels

by saiyuri_dahlia



Category: YuYu Hakusho
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Child Abuse, Lengthy Story, M/M, Sad Things Happen, Sexual Content (Eventually), Slow Developing Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-20 10:49:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 193,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/584579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiyuri_dahlia/pseuds/saiyuri_dahlia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two boys. One, a standoffish orphan given a lucky break. The other, the Academy's model student. Both outsiders in their own rights brought together and bonded by happenstance. Can they learn to be friends? To trust? To love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's this anime-influenced, French short animation containing a homosexual romance that since I first viewed it, I've never really been able to forget. The animation (by Pascal-Alex Vincent) is called Candy Boy (Not to be confused with the yuri anime with the same name) and this story is inspired by it and in fact was its original muse. Classical music also heavily influences this story. I do hope readers enjoy this story and I thank everybody for giving it a shot.
> 
> This story is an AU and all characters are human. I realize that Jaganshi is a title, but for this fic, it's a surname. And I also realize since Kurama is fully human that his name should be his human one, but hey, that's another minor AU change I'm making. There will be differences in Hiei and Kurama's characters due to their demonic natures being removed and altered, but I hope to keep their characters as intact as possible. I am not a proponent of the seme/uke stereotypes.
> 
> Originally posted on FanFiction. New backup site, same saiyuri-dahlia. Some editing has occured from original.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks goes out to Sami Delirium for going over and beta-reading these earlier chapters for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

-o-

Chapter One: The Hand-Me-Down Boy

-o-

Already Hiei's new life was odd.

But he wasn't aware of that yet, asleep in the reclined passenger seat with his small frame pulled close for warmth. He knew a slight bit, like where he was going and why, but before he drifted off to sleep, he still sensed the director of the orphanage was keeping certain details from him. Hiei did not like to be kept in the dark and he certainly did not like being manipulated. He had the suspicions that was exactly what was happening…

But, alas, careful measures to wake Hiei up at an ungodly early hour to ensure that he would sleep for the entire car ride protected the director from any sharp inquisition Hiei would have prepared.

The director of the orphanage, a thin Japanese woman with a haggard appearance caused solely by the stresses of her position, glanced at him quickly out of the corner of her thin silver-framed glasses before shifting her tired russet eyes back onto the road. Until recently, she had nearly cracked from the struggle to save her orphanage, but thanks to the grace of God and the philanthropic donations of Enma Daioh, she was able to keep the orphanage open and build additional rooms to allow more children to live under her protection.

The director's life was dedicated toward helping and finding abandoned or neglected children a loving family of their own, and she enjoyed her job, even with all the other stresses that came along with the good. For many of the children, her orphanage would be the first place they would call home. Really, they were all good kids.

…Except for one.

For all her years with the orphanage and working with children, the director had never met a child as trying as Hiei. It didn't shock her that he had chosen to sleep with his back toward her. The boy had spent all his life turning away from her, usually to face a corner in her office. Her painted bow lips slid into a subtle smile as she reminisced somewhat fondly through his time at the orphanage, those fifteen years some staff members referred to as his reign of terror.

Sure, the orphanage director had spent most of those years reprimanding him in her office, or apologizing to prospective parents for his sharp mouth and even sharper teeth, or compensating monetarily for his damages on a regular basis but not every moment with him had been _bad_ , though not all were necessarily _good_ either.

The director glanced over at Hiei again. His chest softly rose and fell in waves as he carried on peaceably in his dreams, whatever they may have been. The director sighed. Here she was in her late forties, her dark hair graying prematurely from stress, and on her way of getting rid of one source of said strain, yet the director couldn't feel the slightest tinge of relief. Just more worry. Her thoughts raced from one raised question to another:

 _Am I doing the right thing for him? Is he going to be okay? Is the_ school _going to be okay? Will he behave? Fight constantly? Or immediately run away?_

 _Oh God, what if he gets_ sent back _?_

The director knew it was horrible that at the thought of him returning to her orphanage, she shuddered with dread. Now she regretted it, but the reaction wasn't without a grain of reason. She knew Hiei. She knew, politely speaking, how _difficult_ he could be. She knew his tricks, his lies in his truths, his truths in his lies, and had learned to recognize them all quickly. One thing the boy wasn't was stupid and the entire school had better figure him out quickly or otherwise, he'd tear them apart.

The director turned off the main road and followed the sign onto a narrow, one-lane path leading straight into the woods. Was there really a school up here? Her orphanage was a little far back from the city in its own right but it wasn't this rural. Not the visibility of wild animals outnumbered the ratio of humans kind of rural. The nearest city was an hour or more away, which meant that everything—like a hospital—was at least an hour away.

Figuring this time was no better than any other, the director prayed. _Please God, grant me the assurance that what I am doing is right for this boy, the courage to see this through, and the trust that You will guide and watch over him once I can no longer. Give him temperance through any and all adversities he may face. Give him the capacity to receive and return compassion to and from others. Show him the possibility of a life without hurt and suffering. Let there be someone he can rely upon, even if that sole person is You. He has always forsaken You, but please do not abandon him. Give him what few others have. Give him a_ chance _. These are my prayers I offer unto You, the Almighty God and His Most Blessed Son. Amen._

For an instant the director's mind was calm and clear and she breathed her first true sigh of relief today. She had never been a religious woman, a trait passed down from her family of lapsed Christians and so the director wasn't certain the Lord would be receptive of her wishes, but she was willing to try anything for Hiei, anything to give him at least a fighting shot against a world that only seemed to show the boy cruelty.

Passing a road sign indicating they would reach the school's gates in less than eight miles, the director called Hiei to wake up. He gave no response, which didn't surprise her. He was faking, of course, just to be contrary. In that case, all the director had to be was a little more forceful…

"Hey! Wake up!" she barked and pinched the back of his neck, jarring Hiei awake. He growled and sent a hateful scowl over his shoulder. The director merely smiled and said sweetly, "Good morning to you too. We're almost there. Better get your wits about you before we arrive."

Hiei huffed as he turned around in his seat and raised the tilted backing into a straight position. He sat staring forward in a partly groggy, night-of-the-living-dead state. His lidded eyes were crusted a bit with sleep, at least until he brushed the sleep away the next instant. Having his eyes clear, however, did not make him any more awake.

"You can have the rest of my coffee. It's probably cold, though," the director did not look away from the road as she spoke.

He took no more than a second to look at the 16 oz. foam cup before sneering at the director. "You really expect me to drink your backwash? That's disgusting."

"I knew that's what you'd say, but I thought I'd offer nonetheless," she said smiling while turning off onto a road and flattening the gas pedal to charge up the steep incline.

Out of the forest, her car zipped up the hill to its flat top, revealing a verdant landscape of short highlands enclosed in the distance by yet more woodlands. It was positively lovely scenery, and with the way the trees seemed to embrace the hills, it felt secure. Plus with the added bonus of being so out of the way that unless someone knew of its existence, the director knew Hiei was going to be safe here.

As the school's surrounding red brick walls grew closer, the director attempted to engage him in non-bitter conversation one last time. "Serene, isn't it? I bet there's no other school like this in Japan surrounded by such beauty."

"It's sticks and grass, get over it, " Hiei grumbled not so underneath his breath.

The director merely laughed quietly.

-o-

A young nun in full habit, waiting in front of the school's wrought iron gate, smiled at Hiei and not in a patronizing manner but genuinely happy to see him as the director's car slid to a stop before the gate. Hiei guessed this was it between him and the director and placed his hand on the door handle.

"Hiei, wait, " the director said.

Hiei paused, still holding onto the door handle, as his whole body tensed. He murmured a curse under his breath and turned toward her. The director was pouting her bottom lip and gripping the steering wheel tightly, as if waiting to release her held breath. Whatever she wanted to say to him (Hiei couldn't really imagine what _else_ she had to gripe about, having nitpicked him clean all week), it wasn't easy for her to begin.

After two breath-lengths of silence, the director finally spoke, "I know…I know we've had our ups and downs but I want you to know that I don't hate you. Never did. And trust me, there were some times I wanted to…"

The young nun came over but the director gestured to her to give them a little time. The sister appeared to understand the director's vague hand signals and stepped away.

Surfacing stress wrinkled the director's attempt at a gentle, soft expression, so she ended up looking more fragile than tender to Hiei. "It's unfair what fate has done to you so far and you don't realize how glad I am that you finally have an opportunity to leave all that."

The director reached over as if to stroke Hiei's hair, but Hiei drew away in time. The director frowned but understood.

"You never were the same…" the director whispered somberly. "Not since you returned from…"

The director realized her thoughts had slipped off and that her expression had become slack and doleful. She refocused herself, but nonetheless, her face still retained a doleful quality to it. " _Please_ , for the love of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the whole cast and crew, _behave_ _yourself_. Y'know, do the opposite of what you normally do. Act good if you need to… Just don't screw this up."

Hiei, frowning, looked away from her but her words were sinking in. However much it riled him to agree with her, the director was right. This was too important to his future to fight, and as much as it went against every cell in his body, Hiei was going to have to bow a little to the school's authority.

The director laid her hand on Hiei's stiffened shoulder, which he didn't tolerate for long and shoved her hand away. The director smiled, the sort of breakable smile Hiei knew was a failed front to keep him from noticing that her bottom lip was mildly quivering. "Don't take this to heart, but I don't ever want to see you again. Not like this. In another fifteen years, yes. If you find the time."

Hiei nodded. It seemed like the right thing to do in the moment. Wasn't like he was making a formal promise to her, was he? Maybe he would visit and then again perhaps never. By the sound of it, the director didn't seem to expect him to and, knowing the director, she wouldn't. But, Hiei reluctantly admitted, there was a slight sadness in her voice and smile telling him she really would like to see him at least once more as an adult. It didn't seem to make sense to him that she would ever want his presence in her life again. After all their bickering, their near-physical fights, the intentional aggravation and disobedience he inflicted, after everything…she didn't hate him.

 _She thinks this'll make me cry_ , he told himself as he once again turned away and grabbed the door handle. _She's been gunning for tears ever since Child Protective Services sent me back to the orphanage, but_ I don't cry _._

"Wait a sec. Look at me," the director ordered, swiftly back to her comfort zone of being the authoritarian so it seemed. She licked the flat of her thumb and quickly pressed it against Hiei's cheek before he could twist away. "I swear, we only walked straight to the car and you _still_ got dirty. There. That'll have to do, I suppose. You can go."

Hiei, donated suitcases in hand, exited the car and stood beside the sister. Her warm welcome received a tepid response from him. Nothing personal but her voice was too pure, too sickly sweet for this early hour.

"He's _your_ problem now," the director shouted. She pulled the passenger door shut and drove off, turning around in the loop in front of the gates, and zipped back down the long, winding scenic road. At this point, Hiei hadn't witnessed anything more wonderful than that. Her last words were only a joke. The director promised that through all the verbal punches they had ever taken at each other, she would have the last. Hiei paused in mid-consideration. Well, part of it was only kidding, but he was certain the sister hadn't caught onto it.

"Oh dear…I, umm," the nun, not expecting anything like this to happen, stammered with surprise.

Sympathy mixed with sadness poured from her earthy-green eyes as she laid a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. Hiei immediately drew away, his confused glare ordering her to never touch him again. She pitied him, or so he supposed. The soft-hearts always did. The sister seemed hurt by his clear rejection, but she accepted it and glazed her expression with more pity for him.

Through the silence of the still April morning air, the sound of the director's car driving away lingered for several blocks before blending into the quietness of the early day. The security guard drew the iron doors together and locked the gates. Hiei's gaze ran up and along the twisted iron bars as if they were the teeth to an unnamed monster the world had yet to discover or simply had yet to survive. But the mothering shrew was out of Hiei's life for good, and this place was a far cry from becoming the orphanage.

Sister Midori gave him an impromptu tour of the grounds by pointing and explaining various buildings as they came to pass. She was a thin woman, probably in her late twenties or so Hiei estimated, with a heart-shaped face, clear apple blossom skin, and loose straight black hair. Her innocent eyes were as green as the lush forests enclosing the school grounds and as gentle as the cherry blossom trees in full splendor lining the campus's walkways. With the way she spoke, her mellifluous voice so inviting and melodic, it wouldn't have shocked Hiei if she randomly broke out into song any instant.

'Course if she did, Hiei was going to have to punch her in the windpipe.

Carillon chimes rang. Midori explained it was the 7:20 morning bell, indicating first period had just began. She added that unlike many other schools, they followed a slightly longer and slightly earlier schedule for academics. That wasn't a problem for Hiei. He was usually up before dawn anyway.

Hiei said nothing and slipped in and out of attention during Midori's tour, having heard it all before from the orphanage staff and recalling most of her words as the same rhetoric from the Academy's pamphlets.

"We are one of the oldest Catholic boarding schools in all of Japan. We were founded early on during one of the Church's early missionary crusades…" Midori rattled on, unaware that Hiei absolutely couldn't care less about the Academy's history.

The air smelled of atmosphere as if after a light rain and the manicured lawns hung heavy with dew as Hiei and Midori walked along the white concrete paths around the school campus. The administrative offices were red brick structures with white trim and dark roofs built in imitation of European old-world colonial structures.

None of this seemed real. They were in Japan, Midori was and spoke Japanese, the names of the individual buildings were written in kanji, but nothing else spoke of the country he lived in just less than half an hour ago. And with the walls and gates, it really seemed like another world here. But perhaps Hiei was getting ahead of himself. The school buildings were as modern-built as any Japanese high school. Midori added with glee that they were readily supplied and staffed as well as if not better than the typical high school.

The largest and oldest building on the grounds was the cathedral. Large and imposing, the wonder of Gothic architecture struck Hiei's eyes and held them in awe. His gaze rose higher and higher along the cathedral, its twin spire-tipped steeples jutting into the sky. Carved into the walls in rows upon rows were niches and standing inside of each niche was a single angel statuette. There were hundreds of these miniature-proportioned angels up and along the facade alone. Having never been one to be enamored with the Church's teachings, Hiei considered stepping inside the cathedral if only to further absorb and marvel its construction.

Before the church was a large, magnificent stone statue of an armored angel. Its wings were grand in all sense of the word and arched from its shoulder blades into a circle reaching above its head. In its right hand, the angel raised a stone sword high into the blue-gray dawn in an act of triumph, for what reason Hiei could not decide upon. In its left hand, a set of scales were closely tucked beside its strong, youthful body, their purpose another mystery to Hiei.

To its sculptor, it was an act of pride to be a part of the angel's creation; Hiei knew by the extreme minute detail its creator embellished the angel. There were many months, too many with nights of little sleep, sacrificed to the angel, all just to carve every line into the wings' feathers and down, to sand the breastplate smooth, or to capture the tip of its blade at the perfect angle until its maker's obsession was assuaged and the angel was as lifelike as feasibly possible.

Though it garnered Hiei's awe and admiration, it also earned his apprehension. Its wings, yes, were beautiful. Its convincingly realistic form, yes, was splendorous and a testament to the fine arts. But its eyes… Its eyes were nothing more than smooth ovoid shapes without expression, warmth, or life. It stared at him with a face of intense concentration, as if the angel was waiting for Hiei to offer something, anything, to prove his merit to the angel before it deemed whether or not to draw his sword against him. Unable to bear another moment in contact, Hiei shrank into his oversized shirt and lowered his head below the angel's icy gaze.

"Oh, you're interested in this statue. Do you know who this is?" Midori took his silence to mean no. "This is a statue of Saint Michael the Archangel crafted by one of our alumni. It was placed before our cathedral for protection. You see, Saint Michael is the guardian of the Church. He is the Prince of Light who will lead God's forces of Good against Evil at Armageddon. He is here so that no evil will ever enter our cathedral. And I dare say we'll all be safe as long as Saint Michael is here protecting us."

 _It's a statue. It can't do squat for anyone_ , Hiei wanted to say aloud but he figured that would have been too much for Midori to handle. That and the Archangel was throwing him scorching looks so Hiei considered it was better to back off.

When Hiei did not comment, Midori asked him if he wished to move along.

Gladly he stepped away. It was clear that what the statue's face beheld was kindness and love in Midori's eyes and obviously wasn't the same as the contempt, among other things, for which Hiei felt the statue held for him.

-o-

Finally arriving at the dormitories, Sister Midori showed Hiei to his room. Despite the magnificence of the school, the rooms were homely. _Not much different from the orphanage_ , Hiei mentally remarked.

Chips of white wall plaster powdered the edges of the unpolished wooden floor. Sunlight glared mirror-bright through the broad window directly into his room and eyes. Pushed against the narrow wooden windowsill were two metal-framed cots separated by a single plain desk and an uncomfortable-looking chair. Space was limited. There was enough room for him to walk comfortably around, but Hiei imagined the space issue with two people was a fistfight waiting to happen. Setting his two suitcases on a cot, Hiei drew the thick cloth curtains closed and faced Sister Midori.

"Tomorrow, you'll start classes. Today, you can just walk around and familiarize yourself. If you find adjusting difficult, don't hesitate to come to one of our counselors or my office. It's the third one on the left as you first come into the music hall. And the church is always open." Sister Midori checked her wristwatch. "Well, I have to teach a class soon, so here is where I'm afraid we must part. Welcome to Sacred Heart Academy. It has been a pleasure spending the morning with you. Have a wonderful day and may God bless you."

Sister Midori was gone before she could see his eyes roll full circle. God bless you, like hell. Hiei figured God wanted to get a few giggles out at his expense and sent him here to a Catholic boarding school of all places. Hiei groaned, already imagining the daily headache of avoiding the conversion crusaders roaming the halls. He sat down, the bedsprings creaking and straining despite his light weight, and saw the distant forest and the spires of the cathedral in the slit between the curtains. Then, the cloud moved and the blinding sun returned. In truth, Hiei had nothing against Catholicism. He despised the concept of religion.

What now? The director had woken him up at four a.m. for their little road trip that he had slept through most of the way, so he wasn't sleepy. He hadn't been allowed to take anything to read, so that was out. He guessed he could watch the plaster flake off. Ironically, all he wanted at the orphanage was space and quiet to think. Now that he had it, Hiei was bored out of his gourd.

His school uniform and identification card were laying on top of the desk. Underneath his uniform was a folder. Hiei thumbed through the papers. Along with the rules and regulations, his room key, and a map of the school grounds, there was also his class schedule. He pulled it out and set it aside. The rest he skimmed through.

Figuring his donated dirty black jeans and one-size too big T-shirt were unsuitable attire, Hiei changed into his uniform. Reluctantly, that is. The navy blue and yellow tartan pants were the ugliest he had ever seen, and he didn't know how to put on a tie but even if he did, he wasn't about to wear one. White dress shirt buttoned, Hiei folded up his class schedule and put it and the key in his pocket. If it was Hiei's choice, he'd wear the clothes he had on but it was the school's rules and Hiei was forced to obey them, no matter how stupid. At least for now. He was certain there was a way around, if not completely out of, wearing a uniform.

On his way downstairs, Hiei stepped into the bathroom and washed the gel out of his hair. The orphanage staff, in an attempt to make him more _presentable_ , had managed to hold him down long enough for the director to comb out, neatly part, and slick his hair into a humiliating lacquered black bowl.

Rising from underneath the running faucet, he blindly grabbed paper towels out of the dispenser and dried his hair as best as possible. Finished, Hiei looked at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was still damp and not as spiky as usual, and water was dripping on his shirt—at least he sort of looked like himself, albeit in preppy clothes. Hiei left the bathroom and, with a few light taps down the stairwell, exited the dorm.

-o-

Saint Michael's statue or no, Hiei was going into the cathedral. Hiei expected the interior architecture to be as impressive as the facade but he wouldn't know unless he stepped inside. In a minute, that is... He stood in front of the statue and switched his view between the archangel's stoic face and the few short steps to the cathedral doors. This was idiotic. He was being idiotic. No matter how threatening its eyes were, it was still an immobile chunk of rock.

But if it was going to glare at him, Hiei was going to glare back. Matching hate for hate, he held his eyes with the statue as he stepped around it. Its sight followed him but Hiei slowly made his way past the so-called guardian. At the cathedral doors, Hiei looked back and smirked. _I guess I'm not evil enough_ , he thought and stepped inside.

The church's interior was just as interesting to Hiei as the exterior. His feet inched down the center aisle, the air smelling faintly of smoke and incense. His steps echoed in the vast, empty space and disturbed the still silence. He passed rows of thick black oak pews and stared up first at the lofty, pointed arch ceiling and then the eight stained glass windows, four on each side. He instantly caught onto the theme of the windows. Each mosaic depicted an angel. Two were fairly simple pieces—a bowed praying angel and the other, an angel carrying a harp. But for the rest, the designs and significance were highly complex and more assorted in subject, which was enthralling to Hiei's eyes.

He was familiar with the image of Madonna enthroned by angels from the few lessons the director gave him in Christianity as a child. But neither she was a willing teacher nor he a willing student, so it never stuck with him. Those lessons only formed the foundation to his hatred of all faiths. The walls would be raised much later in life...

Unfortunately, it became apparent that all the lesser angels were depicted with the same face, so Hiei's interest began to waver. The next window that caught his attention was stained nearly all in shades of black and white, the only exceptions being the angel and the prisoner's robes, red and dove gray respectively, and the flesh of the prisoner. Hiei finally recognized the old man in the glass as St. Peter, so this must have been a stained glass version of the painting _St. Peter Freed By An Angel_ , another factoid procured from the director's lessons. There were also glass representations of two angels holding up another unfamiliar saint, seven angels attending God's throne, an angel guiding a young boy down a pastoral road, and finally one of Saint Michael trampling a devil figure.

Hiei walked up the two steps to the marble altar. It seemed rather morbid and inappropriate that surrounded by all the amazing architecture and appealing stained glass that the focal point of the altar would be a giant ostentatious golden cross complete with a crucified Savior. Hiei knew Jesus was the Church's hero and all, but of all the better things to look at in here, why did they choose to put the dead guy front and center? Beliefs aside, this _was_ an image of a corpse. Hiei, lightly shaking his head from side to side in displeasure, wasn't about to understand the thought behind this and he was fine keeping it that way.

At least there was the rose window to look at just above the cross. Within the circular stained glass was a myriad of kaleidoscopic shards. The synergy of the mosaic pieces overwhelmed his senses. Hiei's eyes failed to and quit trying to discern the multitude of individual shades and hues and instead appreciated the sparkling varicolored flower and its tracery as a whole.

"Well, you're an unfamiliar face," a man's voice said. Hiei had been gazing at the rose window so intently he hadn't noticed the priest enter the room.

The priest stepped up to the altar and stood to the right of Hiei. Hiei assumed there must have been a door from around that corner the priest had stood in, being that there were no other visible entrances on that side. The priest was a middle-aged Japanese man with short sandy blonde hair and a stout but not squat body.

"You must be our new student." The priest smiled at Hiei. His smile was warm enough and Hiei could tell by the look of his eyes, he was a kind but stern man. "Hiei Jaganshi, if I am correct?"

Hiei merely nodded yes.

"I was hoping I'd run into you. I know you haven't had much time but how are you doing? I'm afraid with everyone mostly in class, there won't be many students around for a while but do enjoy your day. Trust me. You'll learn to appreciate moments of quiet like this." The priest laughed, a brief deep chuckle in his throat.

Hiei put his hands in his pockets and angled his body to the side. If he could, he would have liked to distance himself further, but the priest wasn't approaching him any closer. Any further attempt at separation would have been too obvious to the priest so Hiei stayed where he was.

"Oh, pardon me. It appears that I haven't properly introduced myself. I am Father Takenaka and I am the active priest at this church. I am also the headmaster of this fine institution." He held out his hand and Hiei briefly clasped it. After Hiei abruptly dropped the priest's hand, Takenaka laughed. "Gruff, aloof, and obstinate…you're everything the orphanage said you would be."

Hiei raised an inquisitive eyebrow but Father Takenaka provided the answer for him before he could ask.

"Yes, I know quite a lot about you. Some things you might not be comfortable with me knowing."

Hiei bunched his pocketed hands into fists and scowled. Immediately, he capped his thoughts before any memories could resurface. Just because he knew what Takenaka was referring did not mean Hiei had to punish himself by reliving it.

"I asked the director and her assistants to be frank with me and they were. They told me what kind of person you are, and your history. They were so honest that one assistant told me I could turn you down and take the child with the second-best scores instead. They assured me it would be a safer bet."

Of course, the orphanage staff would say something like that. The director excluded, the staff at the orphanage liked to take personal shots at him behind his back every second they had. They were probably partying right now that Hiei was gone. Hell, they were dancing as soon it had been announced that Hiei had been accepted by the Academy. And Hiei wasn't about to forget the grins the staff had in the weeks leading up to his departure.

"But no man would be a true man without his flaws," Takenaka said and smiled rather serenely. "So here you are. You have your problems, yes, but they are nothing that would bar you from my classrooms. In fact, if you haven't sensed already, you'll find things much different here than in the world beyond our gates. I hope this change of environment is the catalyst to you discovering a new sense of self, Hiei."

New self? Hiei scoffed. He liked himself the way he was and wasn't about to change into another mindless obedient puppet for the Academy to mold, fawn over, and add to their statistics to tell the world their students always made first place in the classroom and on the sports field. Hiei was and will always be Hiei.

Takenaka turned and looked up at the brilliant rose window. "Not to be rude, Hiei, but are you Catholic?"

Hiei shook his head no. _Here it comes_ …Hiei bristled. He knew the priest would get around to asking this sooner or later.

"Ah, I see… The director made no mentioning of it and I wanted to ask you to tell you the times for Mass, of course. It is no issue that you are not, and should you desire to attend, our services are open to you. There are certain aspects of the Mass, however, you will be declined from participating in, such as Communion."

 _You won't have trouble keeping me away_ , read Hiei's eyes and frown.

Takenaka cleared his throat. Hiei made it obvious that he was not a student he would see again in the pews. With the way Hiei had stiffened up at the first inquiry into his religious beliefs, Takenaka quickly moved their talk along elsewhere. And yet none of Hiei's glares put off Father Takenaka in any way. He showed no reaction to any defensive behavior Hiei set up. He must have been through something like this with other students for nothing fazed him. The priest continued smiling and confidently standing his ground against Hiei.

Takenaka placed his hands behind his back. Suddenly, the friendliness in Father Takenaka's voice and demeanor rapidly shifted. Now was time for the disciplinarian. Furrowing his brow, he spoke sternly, his baritone voice lightly reverberating throughout the church, "I must advise you that, while I know and understand the reasons behind your behavior and I am sympathetic to you, I will not tolerate any transgressions of any sort. You are a student and you will adhere to the school's rules and follow the honor code to the fullest extent as such. Is that clear, Mr. Jaganshi?"

"Yes…" Hiei paused, gritted his teeth, and spat, " _sir_."

Takenaka nodded and adopted a smile once more. "Well, we understand one another a little better now, don't we? I do wish you a fine day and a smooth transition into our beloved Sacred Heart Academy. Now if you'll excuse me, Hiei…"

Father Takenaka gave a short bow and then walked down the aisle and exited the cathedral. Hiei was left standing by the altar, not quite sure how he felt about the priest. On one hand, he hated him. He was the school's authority. He controlled every thing and everyone inside these gates. He dictated the rules and Hiei had to follow. But on the other hand, he knew Hiei's past and said he sympathized with Hiei. And even knowing full well about Hiei didn't deter his offer that gave Hiei this chance to better his life. Hiei couldn't bear Father Takenaka complete contempt because of that.

But he was hoping for change out of Hiei, and the priest could go off himself before Hiei did a stupid thing like that.

-o-

Walking around alone all morning was as boring as it sounded but it was quiet, peaceful, refreshing. Unlike now in the dining hall where all the clanks and bumps of serving trays and the scratching utensils merged with student chatter and laughter into a roaring hum no one seemed to hear any longer. Hiei ate alone. It was nothing new to him, having always kept to himself at the orphanage. What bothered him was the finger pointing, the whispering, and the inevitable jokes cracked at his expense. Not from everyone, of course. For the most part, the student body ignored him, or at least faked they were. Hiei guessed that was the double curse of being new and the Academy's charity case.

Yeah, they had to have known. Not like the papers hadn't stuck his face and name everywhere. So what if he had won a scholarship? It was an accident. Hiei hadn't even tried. It was all a publicity stunt for the Academy anyway. Sacred Heart probably chose him, not for his test results (no matter what Takenaka said), but because he had the saddest story. The school knew that the papers would eat up a good sob story.

His lunch would have been entirely uninterrupted if not for the chatty group sitting at the table across from him. Really Hiei would have just tuned everyone out as white noise, except a few of them had particularly annoying laughs and everything seemed to be a big joke today.

Analyzing the group dynamics was easy for Hiei. There was the popular guy in the center, flanked by two guys who wanted to be the popular guy, surrounded by the girls who wanted to date the popular guy, and everyone else listening in who didn't get a close seat this time. Through listening and close observation, Hiei found it odd that the popular guy, though his accomplishments and thoughts seemed to be the group's fascination, rarely said anything, except to briefly answer a direct question or to clarify another's explanation.

Crazy thing was the guy didn't seem worth the ruckus. He wasn't particularly athletically built but was more on the slender side. His skin color was a shade pale, probably due to a lack of recent sun-exposure, but fair and healthy nonetheless. Seemed unnatural though that the guy's skin was flawless and showed absolutely no signs of any recent blemishing, if ever. Plus the guy looked noticeably formal and stiff, evident in the way he sat—his shoulders squared, his back so straight Hiei assumed a metal rod rather than a spine supported him, and his fingers were interlaced and set on the table. Hiei couldn't see his legs because of all the other people but he would bet they were crossed.

And if the director was worried his hair was too unruly, she should have seen this guy's head. Up, down, his hair grew how ever it wanted and apparently as long as it wanted as well. Hands down, it was the brightest shade of red he had ever seen on a guy. The girls were probably only there to look at him, drawn like bees to a flower, and the guys were only there for the girls, like bullfrogs preying on the bees.

Hiei continued to monitor the conversation—it was _something_ to do after all—paying attention to whoever was speaking for an instant or two while he slipped subtle glances to see the center boy's reaction. The boy would look into a person's eyes if they lied. He would stare over the speaker's head if he was no longer interested in the story. And, Hiei's personal favorite, he would blink twice faintly if he was asked a stupid question. Hiei went about this unnoticed until midway through a particularly long story. Hiei's eyes were lured away from the peppy girl speaking, slowly, dragged by an imperceptible compulsion and a nagging feeling he was forgetting something, and found themselves meeting two expressionless brilliant green eyes.

Hiei instinctively scowled at the boy and then looked down at his plate and pretended to pick at it. The small morsel in his mouth swallowed dryly, slipping down like glue. He messed up somewhere. Hiei huffed curtly as he glared down at his milk carton. _No one_ ever caught him. A master of secrecy never got caught. Waiting a few moments, Hiei, thinking himself in the clear, raised up to check if the redhead was still looking. No, the boy was turned slightly to the side, listening to a new story.

But seconds after Hiei looked up and thought himself undoubtedly safe, the redhead boy's eyes shifted and matched again with Hiei's. He was going to say something, Hiei was certain and narrowed his stare sharply at the boy, something that would brand him as a freak toward the whole student body. Not like he wasn't used to being called a freak… Hiei would just rather no one talked about him at all. Or worst yet, he speculated, the boy was about to invite him over to their table and subject him to the group's mind-numbing blather.

The redhead did neither of those.

He smiled, a small, kind upturn of his lips so subtle Hiei thought only he imagined it at first.

Hiei's thoughts flat-lined. What was he supposed to do? Smile back? No, this wasn't that kind of smile. Well, Hiei didn't know what kind of smile it was, but it wasn't _that_ kind of smile. Wave? Say hello? Out of the question. Hiei would eat his serving tray, fork and knife included, before he waved or said hello. Just his considering of waving or saying hello warranted intense ridicule of himself later. Luckily, someone walked between their tables and the problem solved itself. Hiei grabbed his tray, threw the redhead a scowl, and left.


	2. Chapter 2

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH.

-o-

Chapter Two: Games, Fights, Dinner, And…A Roommate?

-o-

R104…R104. Hiei wanted to know what kind of an idiot numbered classrooms completely at random. He had just passed R130 and R118. And if the lottery-style numbering was not enough of an insult to his intelligence, Hiei was lost in a color-coded school. Red floor tiles down one hall, blue floor tiles down another—maybe if he knew what either color meant the layout would make more sense.

With nothing else to do with his free afternoon, Hiei had gone to his afternoon classes and found them to be only a mild remedy for his boredom. His Algebra teacher, a tall hulking fellow who looked like he would be more comfortable scaring the villagers of Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_ than teaching math, actually gave him extra homework for his refusal to 'show his work' on his assignments, which Hiei saw as a complete waste of time since he could find the answers in his head just as efficiently as writing the problems out. But now late in the afternoon and according to his printout, all he had left was SciTut-3, whatever that was. R104? He checked his schedule again. Finally, a door that matched.

The teacher was speaking, "As you may have discovered—"

Okay, so he was late. The entire class, all five students, turned around. Standing in the open doorway, Hiei stared with a quirked eyebrow at the sight of the teacher. It was _him_ , the redhead from lunch earlier. If he was the teacher, and it sure looked like he was, how old was he? He looked no older than his supposed 'students'. Then again, he was also wearing a student uniform.

"Hello." The redhead boy from lunch smiled, pleasantly and fuller than before. "Come in. Take a seat."

There were five columns of standard school-issued desks, neatly arranged, in four rows, so twenty desks in all. A boy and two girls sat side by side in the first row and the other two boys sat behind the girls in the second row. Hiei chose to sit as far away as possible in the fourth row.

"Ah, please sit closer to the group," the redhead boy said.

Hiei begrudgingly complied, sliding from his preferred seat and sat in the second-row seat behind the boy in the first row. The boy beside him, a lanky, pockmarked fellow, nodded hey to him. Hiei scowled back and the tall guy, initially surprised by Hiei's cold response, turned away frowning.

The so-called 'teacher' clasped his hands together. "As you may have discovered, this is not an average class. This is Science Tutorial 3, better known on your printouts as SciTut-3."

The taller of the two girls, the one with the light blue ponytail, raised her hand. "What does the number stand for?"

"Ah, good question," the redhead boy said as he turned to the girl and nodded in approval. "Since the Academy only has three qualified science student tutors in their Helping Hearts Tutorial Program, there are only three available classes. This is the third."

" _Helping Hearts_ …" Interrupting, the boy with slicked back black hair in front of Hiei snickered. "…Do you know how _gay_ that sounds?"

Their tutor blinked twice faintly and frowned. "I must admit the name is a little contrived and juvenile, but sadly, I was not present when the vote for the name was cast and called. But thank you anyway, Yusuke, for deciding the program has a sexual orientation."

Hiei couldn't see the boy's…Yusuke's, that is, expression from behind. Though, as the boy slumped down in his seat, Hiei imagined that Yusuke's grin had been thoroughly wiped from his face.

The boy from lunch—so he _was_ a student like them and not a real teacher—continued with class introductions, "You will not get credit or a grade for this class and attendance is not mandatory."

"Well, I'm outta here." Yusuke rose.

"Sit, Yusuke," he said firmly, surprising Hiei, who before now couldn't have imagined a strict tone coming out of him. However, the boy quickly went back to using a welcoming, gracious voice. "While all that may be true, all of you must pass this class in order to graduate. My name is Kurama Minamino and I am your science tutor."

"Big freakin' deal." Yusuke plunked back down into his seat. "We all know who YOU are."

"That isn't true," Minamino said. "Anyway, the purpose of this class is to study and learn. You must bring your textbook and coursework every day. You are welcome to ask questions about your class assignments, but I am not here to do your homework for you. You will also be expected to complete my assignments in conjunction with your work in your regular science class. Every Friday, there will be a test based on any of the material we have covered during the week. So you know, the tests you will be taking are of my creation and are indeed faculty-approved. Any exam you take in your regular science courses will not allow you to cheat on these tests. That is the basics of this class. If there are no questions, let us proceed to roll call."

Minamino waited a moment for any hands to float into the air but none rose. "Now everyone introduce yourselves for roll call, please."

Shesh…introductions, how boring. Least there weren't many of them. Torture is trying to stay awake through thirty of them. Hell is having to name everyone who spoke before you because the teacher thinks it's funny to play a memory game and piss everyone off. At least Minamino here wasn't making them play a memory game. Hiei never wanted to go through another name game in his life. Hiei watched the boy beside him, the tall young man with his more naturally-colored red hair styled into a small pompadour, stand.

"Kazuma Kuwabara. Third year punk." He sat down.

"Good job," Yusuke, reclined in his seat with his arms behind his head, chimed in condescendingly. "Except you forgot the part where you say, 'and I'm retarded in science'."

"Shut up, Urameshi. You're here too y'know." Kuwabara reminded him with a glare.

"Tch. Details…" Yusuke brushed the comment off and stood for his turn. "What is this, teach'? AA? You're calling _us_ the boozehounds at this school and that bastard Iwamoto goes free? I know for a fact he hits the ol' blood of Christ too much. "

Kurama pinched the top of his bridge in annoyance. The teachers were right. Yusuke was…to put it nicely, irritating. Taking a deep breath, knowing he could rely either on Keiko or Sister Genkai to help keep Yusuke in line, Kurama stayed calm. Yusuke was aware of the line and how far he could cross before either Keiko or Genkai would be consulted. Still Yusuke was enjoying pressing that leeway, something Kurama made a mental note to discontinue immediately. "Just please sit down, Yusuke."

Everyone had gone but Hiei. The class turned and looked at him impatiently. He crossed his arms over his chest and remained silent. _I'm not doing it_ , his glare and thoughts read. _Go on_. _It's pointless._ The class wanted him to get it over with already. No use being stubborn over something so little.

Kurama waited for Hiei. Hiei was staring him down, trying to force control over him. _Seems he's going to be as difficult as Yusuke, if not more…_ Kurama thought. The first thing his assigned advisor told him soon after he was accepted into the program to become a tutor was never back down when a student challenges you, get angry, and drive the worm back into line squirming. But Kurama didn't believe in that. He could certainly do it, but he preferred his way instead. It was much less aggressive than his advisor's teaching style but effective nonetheless.

Hiei continued glaring at Minamino. He wasn't going to stand up and nobody could make him. His 'tutor' obviously knew it was pointless to try. He just stood there looking at Hiei. Their eyes locked. Minamino was not getting angry or yelling at him to get up like the director would. Or threatening to beat him like the orphanage staff would. In fact, he wasn't speaking at all. Minamino was just waiting, with that _irritating_ smile of his and bright placid eyes. Hiei felt like grinding his teeth as his blood simmered below the skin. _Get_ angry _, damn it!_ Hiei wanted to see him get mad at him like everyone else did, not be annoyed, not be stern, but get fuming mad.

But Hiei's efforts were having a reverse effect, of which Kurama was aware. Nobody was as good at killing with kindness as Kurama Minamino was. Just as no one could defeat Kurama at a competition, should he decide to participate. Easily, Kurama turned this standoff into a part of a game, a contest with the prize being the control over the class. Hiei was trying to divert the power to himself and, with it, would undermine Kurama's position and authority as head of the class. No doubt Yusuke would sense the shift in rule and follow Hiei's lead. And if Kuwabara were also to…there goes half the class plunging into chaos.

And Kurama had thought tutoring would be dull!

At least, for a little while, he could amuse himself playing this game of wills. If this were chess, and Kurama liked to think of this as chess, Hiei would be white and himself black. Their opening moves had been, as any first move, uneventful but necessary. But already, even with few pieces on the board, Hiei was showing weakness. His lack of patience and self-restraint, two qualities Kurama had in spades, would hamstring his challenger and make this a short game, unless Kurama intentionally strung it out. Ultimately, Kurama knew the game would last only as long as he wanted it to. And, either fortunately or unfortunately for Hiei, it was Kurama's turn.

 _Hmm, I could wait…_ Kurama considered. _I have made it clear that, while I will oppose him, I will not use his methods or be influenced by him. But waiting takes time and this silly standoff is eating precious class time_. Kurama weighed his options and easily switched his tactics.

"I suppose there really is not a need for you to tell us about yourself." Minamino walked over to the teacher's desk and picked up a sheet of paper. "You're Hiei Jaganshi. Fourth year. …How are you liking Sacred Heart?"

Hiei didn't answer.

Botan, the girl with the light blue ponytail who spoke earlier, turned around in her seat and asked Hiei chirpily, "How can you be new and a fourth year?"

Hiei shrugged his shoulders.

"What's wrong? You mute, or something?" Kuwabara asked.

"I don't know _why_." Hiei scowled at the boy's stupid question. "I took a test and came here." Just how did they think Hiei would know how this school worked? They had been here longer than he had—why didn't they know? Or they should be smart enough to ask someone who _would_ know.

"It is because Hiei tested into a fourth-year placement. Your year is not really a measure of your time here," Minamino explained, "but of academic standing of your present knowledge. It's a misnomer."

At that, Yusuke turned back around to face Hiei. "If you're so smart, why are you in this class?" Yusuke said sharply.

It wasn't as if he was seven and in college. Maybe Yusuke couldn't tell because of his size but Hiei was fifteen and a fourth year, the appropriate year if he had gone to Sacred Heart from the beginning. Out of the class, Hiei was the only fourth-year. The rest were mostly third years. One, the girl with the glasses, was a first-year.

"Apparently the same reason you are, " Hiei replied bluntly. "I suck at science."

"All right, that is enough," Minamino said. "Now today we do not have any work to do since this is the first session, but I expect everyone to be on time and ready to study tomorrow. Today, we are going to play a game. Please, everyone, place your desks into a circle."

"Oh, yea…" Yusuke sarcastically groaned as he picked up his seat. "Do we get cookies and a nap afterwards?"

Hiei had to agree with his sentiments. They weren't _five_ , so why were they doing this? This was going to be ridiculous, or so he suspected.

Once everyone's desk was in a circle, Minamino including one for himself, he explained the rules of the game, "The person whose turn it is will say his or her say name and then tell the group something about themselves that we couldn't possibly know about them by looking. We'll go around clockwise. I will start. I am Kurama and I like to study plants."

Next came Botan. She was visibly excited, bouncing in her seat in fact, that her turn had arrived. Her bounding enthusiasm dissipated, however, once she realized she couldn't think of anything to say. Sitting still, she placed a finger on her lips, looked toward the ceiling, and thought.

She grated on Hiei's every nerve. He was looking at a mini-Sister Midori, maybe even worse. Cheery, sweet, always wanting to help, ever optimistic, and _weak_ —Hiei had dealt with her type of person all his life and he loathed them. They could never keep their noses out of anybody's business, and if they sensed someone was messed up, they assumed that person needed _fixing_ and they always take it upon themselves to do it. And even if Hiei hadn't seen all these traits in her just yet, he knew they would eventually rear up. He was ready for then. For most of them, all it took was the right insult or two to mash their little fantasy to dust and they never bothered him again. They were even a little wiser for the wear.

"Oh, wait, " the girl with candy-colored eyes (obviously cosmetic contacts) finally said, smiling, "My name is Botan and I went hang-gliding over the summer. I love the feeling of flying."

Hiei may have hated Botan for her sunshine cheer and limitless energy but he found little merit in the first-year girl with bobbed chestnut hair and glasses either. She fumbled with her fingers and wasted time blushing at Minamino. Hiei wanted to shake her by the shoulders and order her to say something, anything, so they could get this stupid game over with. She was a sop, a spineless waste of breath. Nervous people annoyed Hiei—they were always indecisive and never got around to doing anything by themselves. In her introduction during roll call earlier, the girl had rose quivering and sputtered out her name so quickly that Minamino couldn't have heard it. Hiei wished she could do that again right now.

Finally, as her round face impersonated a cherry tomato, the twit stuttered, "I-I'm Eriko, and I-I enjoy baking cakes."

After Eriko, it was her brother. Their surnames had been different but the family resemblance wasn't a secret. They had the same light tan skin, the same tiny snub nose, plum eyes, and a similar slit for a mouth, but the boy's face was flatter and his shaggy mop hair was dyed dark blue. Along with somewhat darker skin in comparison to everyone else, both siblings shared a slight Okinawa accent (which the brother and sister hid nearly perfectly, nearly since Hiei had picked up on the trace differences). Opposite to his sister, the boy was laidback, comatose even in comparison, and noticeably bored. So far, if he ignored Hiei, Hiei guessed he could tolerate him.

"It's Reiji-ii, and I wanna make manga-a," he said apathetically, yawned, and slipped back into his half-sleep. Reiji's lazy drawl of his speech couldn't have been anything he picked up from Okinawa or his sister would have shared the speech pattern. It was an idiosyncrasy all his own.

Hiei already assumed Kuwabara's answer would take a while as well. Who knows how long a message took to pass through his two brain cells… Hiei paused, perhaps two was too much credit. Maybe in the same way a dead body floundered about on the gurney when an electric current was ran through it, all of this boy's functions were completely involuntary.

But surprising Hiei, Kuwabara already had a reply ready. Hiei supposed the first cell had plenty of time to pass the baton during Eriko's turn. Still he wasn't looking forward to hearing his voice, like a guttural racket of gargled gravel.

Kuwabara stuck his left thumb out and jabbed it toward his chest. "The name's Kuwabara and I'm the greatest fighter this school's ever had," he said with gusto. Too much, in Hiei's opinion.

Hiei doubted his claim. As far as he was concerned, any braggart who went around reminding people how great they are deserved to get the living hell beat out of them. When Hiei was ten, a boy at the orphanage had boasted the same line and picked a fight with Hiei. The boy never did regain the use of two of his fingers.

It seemed Hiei's perceptions were right. Yusuke threw back his head and laughed raucously. Yusuke wore a patronizing grin as he gleefully shouted, "Tell everyone how you ate asphalt yesterday, then! Or how I made you pass out—"

Kuwabara bared his teeth and raised a shaking, clenched fist. "That was a cheap-shot, Urameshi and you know it!" Kuwabara squawked, "We agreed to no sleeper holds and you cheated."

Yusuke fanned a hand dismissively in front of his face. "Yea, yea. We all can see who's the greatest fighter—"

Minamino intervened. " _Yusuke_ , enough of this," he said sternly.

Yusuke glared at the floor and crossed his arms over his chest. Yusuke huffed and mumbled a few choice words under his breath but did not object. Minamino's sharp stare then switched to Kuwabara, who looked ready to haul and slug Yusuke this very instant. In only a few seconds, Kuwabara looked down in shame and relaxed his fists and then lowered his hands beneath the desk.

Hiei found this all…very pathetic. Why in the world would two strong guys, either one could easily overpower this scrawny geek and dominate the class, listen and so passively obey Minamino without a single protest? It was disgusting. This was why Hiei hated rules. Rules confined people into place. The more rules there were, the less room for people to react. Rules trapped and forced people to be just like the ones in power wanted them to be and they wanted people compliant to them. People in authority wanted gray. Monochromatic gray. The thought angered Hiei.

Once the matters between Kuwabara and Yusuke settled, Minamino's polite smile returned. "Let us move on, shall we? Hiei, it's your turn." Minamino orientated his body to face him and listened.

After a quick glare at Minamino, Hiei turned away, his arms crossed over his chest defiantly, and grumbled, "You know my name, and I think this is stupid."

" _Hiei…_ " Minamino gently coaxed.

"Fine," he spat brusquely. "I'm Hiei, and my parents are _dead_."

 _There. Maybe_ that _would end this stupid game._

Botan and Kuwabara gawked at him, their mouths slightly gaping. Eriko looked ready to cry. Yusuke looked at Hiei and raised an eyebrow, as if he hadn't decided what he thought. Even Reiji appeared more awake than before. Only Minamino hadn't reacted to Hiei's sharp retort. He sat motionless, his fingers steepled and his eyes meeting Hiei's.

"That was more than you needed to offer…but thank you anyway, Hiei." Minamino checked his watch, "It is a little early, but we will end here. Everyone, please bring your textbook and homework for tomorrow. Before you leave, please return your desk back to its original location, thank you. Class dismissed."

 _Finally_ , Hiei huffed and picked his desk up.

"Hiei, please stay behind for a moment," Minamino added.

Dropping his desk in place, Hiei looked up, his eyes blinking with incredulity. _What now?_ Hiei may have even growled a bit. He hadn't done anything wrong, or at least he was not aware of doing anything wrong, and was more than a little surprised Minamino called him to remain behind. Hiei watched the rest of the class leave.

"What's the point of this?" Hiei snapped, stepping up to the teacher's desk.

Minamino sat at the teacher's desk. He crossed his legs and laid his hands, one on top of the other, on his knee. Whether or not Minamino was attempting to be casual, Hiei wasn't certain, except that his posture still had an air of formality. Then again if Minamino was supposed to be playing the 'teacher', perhaps the pose was appropriate after all.

"Hiei, it was only a _game_. There was no reason to lie."

Hiei angled his body to the side and casually stuck his hands into his pockets. He was caught but still he scowled in haughty denial.

"I was serious earlier. You have to pass this class to graduate to the next year and in order to do that, you must participate in the day's activities. You can choose not to or give false responses but do not think you are rebelling against me. I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. You can fail and get left behind. It makes no difference to me. You are only killing yourself."

Minamino shrugged his shoulders briefly, emphasizing that it really didn't matter to him if Hiei passed. "But if you are willing to interact, even minimally, I am more than willing to provide whatever I can to see that you pass." Minamino leaned forward slightly, his head tilted down but his eyes raised up and locked with Hiei's, and smiled. "…Do we have a deal?"

Hiei was starting to wish he had stayed at the orphanage. At least there, he could do just about anything and never have to associate with anybody—all the kids there were afraid of him—unless he wanted to. There were rules there too, but he enjoyed infuriating the staff and there was something gratifying in fighting with the director.

' _You don't realize how glad I am that you finally have an opportunity to leave all that_ ,' the memory of the director's voice spoke in his head. ' _Act good if you need to. Just don't screw this up.'_

Hiei looked down at his blurred reflection in the polished wooden floor. Tch, he hated when she was right. He hated to be reminded that this school was important for his (currently nonexistent) future. Refusing to look at the boy, Hiei lifted his head and gazed at the mounted Savior cross hanging to the left of the whiteboard in front of him and mumbled, "…Okay."

"Very well." Minamino leaned back into the chair once more and sat as he did at the beginning of their talk. "Thank you for staying behind and speaking with me."

Was this a checkmate already? Kurama hoped it wasn't. If anything, it was at least a check.

As Hiei turned to leave, Minamino stopped him again, which he apologized for. He handed Hiei a typed sheet of paper, which Hiei hardly scanned through. "I almost forgot to hand you this. I passed it out at the beginning of class. It is just my, well, the school's classroom rules and expectations, along with my contact information in case you need something before class."

"I'm certain I'll have a burning science question at three in the morning," Hiei grumbled sardonically and crushed the folded paper in his pocket.

Minamino lightly laughed. "When you come by, don't worry about knocking softly. My roommate sleeps soundly."

 _Whatever_ …Hiei rolled his eyes. His posture and expression asked if he could leave already. Minamino said that was all he wanted and dismissed him.

As Hiei paused in the doorway, he looked back, though was unable to see much in detail. At the teacher's desk, Minamino, head bowed and absorbed in his work, quickly flicked through papers and made marks in an open handbook, unaware of Hiei watching from the door. A second later, as Minamino peered up, Hiei had disappeared.

-o-

Minutes after leaving Minamino, Hiei was still riled that that boy (and, by extension, the director) had manipulated him into _participating_ , the word was laced with venom even in his mind, in his stupid class. He needed to get out of the Science Hall as soon as possible. If not, Hiei was certain he would act on his desire to go back to Kurama Minamino and punch him between his pretty green eyes.

Hiei stormed down the hall, reached the exit, and blindly shoved the door out of his way.

"Gah! My nose!" an older boy yelped from outside the front doors.

Standing on the other side, Hiei stepped the length of two robin's egg blue tiles back as the glossy white metal door in front of him swung open wide and cracked against the cream cement wall. The boy, protectively cupping his nose, charged shouting into the Science Hall, his stormy gray-green eyes glowering. Students who had been walking behind Hiei paused fear-stricken and debated whether to turn away or stay to see the situation unfold. The older boy was taller than Hiei, but in his rage, he seemed to tower over everyone in the hall.

"WHO—" The boy stopped, seeing only the hall and a few scared fifth-year girls in the back. "All right! WHO wished to scourge the honor and sink the fortune of the Academy's beloved soccer team? WHO dared to disfigure the exquisite face of the Beautiful Suzuki?"

Beautiful? Hiei supposed someone would find him so. The older boy was not bad looking, but was forgettable-handsome, the sort of above average beauty everyone saw so commonly now amongst guys and girls that ironically did not leave a withstanding impression on anybody. Suzuki's beauty was no more outstanding than fish in streams, a realization unbeknownst to him however. He was rather broad-chested but nonetheless athletically built. His blond hair spiked skyward and fanned out a bit toward the top. A few fallen strands fell right above his eyebrows, which became rather bushy at the ends. He and the two older boys behind him wore the Academy's soccer uniform, a navy blue sports pullover and matching shorts striped on each side with a vertical solid yellow band.

"I did," Hiei said scowling and the older boy adjusted his gaze downward.

Taking note of the small crowd gathering nearby, immediately the guy threw on a smile and laughed loudly. With an attentive audience, Suzuki raised his voice theatrically, "I _might_ have guess it would be a _first-year_. Only a first-year ignorant of the legend that is Beautiful Suzuki would be foolhardy enough to step in my way. And since you are but a silly little boy, I'll be generous and let you off for only a sincere apology."

Hiei didn't know where to begin tearing into Suzuki's words first. He could start by refuting he was a fourth-year but what was the point? Hiei decided to start with the obvious. "You can't be much if you were too stupid to not know to not walk in front of an opening door. Or is that your 'legend'? Do you also drown yourself looking skyward every time it rains?"

Red-faced, Suzuki tensed and lunged forward, fists drawn. Hiei was just as rigid, his shoulders shaking with anger and anticipation, his teeth bared. Suzuki wanted to fight? Sure. A fight was just what Hiei needed to deal with some of his frustrations.

Suzuki's teammates scrambled to hold him back. One held him from behind. The other jostled around to get in front of him. "Suzuki, he's just a kid. Please, it's not worth being barred from playing. We need you! You're our captain! Don't do it," the boys plead, keeping their heads down as they strong-armed their fellow member.

"You're envious of me! You'll never get close to my stardom," Suzuki spat, lunging and struggling against his teammates' pull. "Ask anyone here who I am! Everyone knows my achievements, my records, _my legend_."

"You're nothing—" Hiei began when Suzuki broke free, grabbed Hiei by the collar, and pinned him against the cork message board.

He leaned down closer to Hiei's face and spoke at near-whisper lows. "Shut up." Suzuki's voice was as taut as new leather. "I was gonna brush this off, but now I don't care anymore."

The flush throughout Suzuki's face now matched and blended with the splotch of red around his nose. Earlier, when the older boy had been calmer and his skin whiter, his nose looked like a clown's. It still did in some respects, though more in swelling size than noticeable color. Suzuki peered haughtily down at him. The tiny welt of skin on the back of Hiei's head ached, created when Suzuki pinned him against the message board and his head made sharp, sudden contact with the hard plastic head of a pushpin.

Suzuki flared his nostrils and an infinitesimal drip of blood leaked out from the right. If time had been wasted to measure it, the blood certainly would not have been enough to fully cover a girl's pinky nail but Suzuki saw it and overreacted nonetheless. He froze dramatically in shock.

Suzuki twisted and secured his grip on Hiei's collar. Once more, he bent down, his mouth contorted maliciously, and murmured, "You pounded my face. I get to pound yours. Quid pro quo."

"Uh…Suzuki…" one of his teammates said. The boy's voice quavered as Suzuki swung his fist back.

"Try to mock me now!" Suzuki hollered.

A hand reached out and grabbed Suzuki's fist. Muscles bulging, Suzuki's arm tensed and strained to proceed ahead but the hand held it steady in mid-air. Hiei scowled and gazed off-center over Suzuki's right. But what was more important was that the hand staving off his assault did not belong to Hiei…

Suzuki followed Hiei's sight, looked over his right shoulder, and went pale.

"F-Father Takenaka!" Suzuki's voice cracked in an unbecoming manner.

Suzuki confronted the hard wall that was Takenaka's humorless, austere face. The priest stood tall and confident with his shoulders squared and his hands behind his back. His sandy eyebrows like rectangular strips of nori paper narrowed downward and pinched. He spoke briskly and boldly, "What is the meaning of this, Mr. Suzuki?"

Beads of nervous sweat drizzled down the side of Suzuki's face. "It's-it's…" Suzuki mumbled, failing to figure out a means to smooth his predicament over, and awkwardly laughed, his mouth twitching spastically. Takenaka's eyes, fixed with a level stare, searched Suzuki's panicky expression, though the headmaster needed no further evidence than what laid in bare sight.

"Speak up, Mr. Suzuki," Father Takenaka ordered. "I would like a proper explanation to why you feel the requirement to grasp a student in such an aggressive manner."

The blonde boy looked over, saw he still held Hiei pinned to the message board, and unceremoniously dropped him.

Landing on his feet and his glare locked on Father Takenaka, Hiei wished the priest had not involved himself. Now that Takenaka was present, Hiei couldn't touch Suzuki either and Hiei had hoped for the gratification of _actually_ shattering the buffoon's nose. He was only allotted imagining the sound and feel of bones crunching now.

Suzuki smiled sheepishly and replied in his most placating voice, "It was a minor misunderstanding, sir. This boy was opening the front door and I on the outside was hit by it. What you see here is us just working out a little confusion surrounding the matter."

"Indeed, Mr. Suzuki." Takenaka's level tone held no indication of his opinion. He turned to Hiei. "Is that true, Mr. Jaganshi?"

Hiei said nothing and scowled, but his glare read: _You and I know very well he's bending the truth._

Takenaka focused back on Suzuki, his words edged with disapproval. "You know well of our Academy's policy on such behavior and I do not condone these actions, especially by a seventh-year who I thought was more than mature enough to know the difference in right and wrong. Now, Mr. Suzuki, I want to see you and your teammates in my office in one hour. We will continue this lecture there with Sister Genkai present. Have I made myself clear?"

Suzuki nodded slowly. "…Yes, sir."

 _This turned out to be a waste of time_ , Hiei remarked. He was just as ready to leave as much as Suzuki appeared to be, though for dissimilar reasons. The flow of foot traffic resumed through the hall. No fight, no motivation to stick around. Father Takenaka gave Suzuki a look that he was dismissed. Suzuki, like a kicked dog, skulked down the hall with his ashamed teammates swooping after him.

"Hiei, will you walk with me for a spell?" Father Takenaka, the kind version, asked.

Hiei had already decided that 'walk with me' was code for 'you're about to be lectured as well'. Outside along the path of blooming cherry trees, Takenaka and Hiei reluctantly in tow walked. The priest was silent at first, his only communication being a simple acknowledging nod to the respectful public bows of passing students. The day had progressed into a warm, sunny afternoon. White cumulus clouds drifted along languidly in the azure above. Butterflies flitted from flower to flower. Surrounded by cutesy picturesque perfection made Hiei wish for rain and soon.

"I must apologize to you, Hiei," Father Takenaka began, " I thought with your record, you would have struck Mr. Suzuki but I thankfully misjudged you. You showed great restraint back there."

Actually, if the priest had not shown up at the time that he had and interrupted Suzuki, Hiei would have allowed the boy his one punch and THEN taught the guy the literal meaning of the phrase, 'open mouth, insert foot', among other things…

"Life is full of these little tests of character and, today, you passed this one. I'm proud of you, Hiei."

 _Huh?_ Hiei quirked an eyebrow. Frankly, he hadn't been listening as intently as Father Takenaka would have recommended but his ears had perked at the priest's last sentence. He was _proud_ of him? The meaning of the word was familiar to Hiei but foreign when attributed to him.

Looking away from the priest, Hiei scoffed, "Your expectations of me must be very low to give reward for something so trivial."

Father Takenaka smiled and amiably patted Hiei's shoulder, much to Hiei's great irritation and discomfort. "No, my expectations for you are quite high. I expect you, above everyone else, to do well and succeed. And there is no wrong in celebrating even the smallest of victories."

Father Takenaka stopped at a crossroads, one path led straight to the cathedral; the other way was the first walkway of three toward the dormitories. "Hiei, I thank you for walking with me. Should you ever wish to talk with me in my office, it is in the cathedral. Do not feel pressured by Mr. Suzuki or feel that he will retaliate against you. I will indeed set Mr. Suzuki straight. Enjoy your evening, Mr. Jaganshi."

And there they parted, the priest to the church and Hiei to the dorms. There was an odd feeling twisting in Hiei's stomach as he recalled the priest praising him but he brushed it off as hunger and wondered when dinner would be served.

-o-

At dinner, Hiei, to no shock, found himself alone. He sat leaning forward with an elbow propped on the table and his cheek resting in his flat palm. Students sitting at other longtables were talking about his fight with Suzuki. The story by now had been so thoroughly corrupted and convoluted it hardly contained a shred of truth anymore.

The initial lie was, of course, that the 'fight' had been called a fight at all. Other untruths to the tale were that Hiei had trounced Suzuki or that Suzuki had mauled Hiei (one look at him would have debunked that lie, though), or that Hiei had pulled a blade on Suzuki. The most inane, obviously untrue story Hiei had overheard was the growing-popular fabrication that Hiei had smuggled a switchblade onto school grounds by swallowing it beforehand and then he regurgitated it during the fight and sliced Suzuki.

 _Idiots, every one of them_ , he gazed across the room and glared at every living being. If they were low enough on the evolutionary scale to believe the stomach switchblade story, Hiei was more than glad to be and remain alone.

The nearly full cafeteria went deathly silent when Sister Midori ambled to the head of the room and stood before the five rows of longtables. Her cheeks were ruddy and her breaths were quickened, as if she had rushed to be here. Sister Midori waited until the last student had taken his seat before she spoke in her honeyed voice.

"Students, please bow your heads for grace."

To Hiei's disbelief, he watched a roughly estimated room of five hundred hushed boys and girls lower their heads and clasp their hands in prayer. A few orientated their bodies to face the mounted crucifix, others made the sign of a cross over their bodies before clasping their hands in prayer.

And then in unison, the student body recited, "Bless us, O Lord and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

The hairs stood on the back of Hiei's neck. His stomach clenched as he looked around for anyone not in prayer like him. He was alone. Hearing the grace spoken in public in this manner was more than a bit awkward and disturbing to someone who never had to say or had heard grace back at the orphanage. The students' behavior seemed to Hiei…rather _cult-like_. Hiei then reminded himself that he, being at a religious school, would have to get used to some of their religious customs, no matter how off-putting he found them to be. However, as long as he didn't have to conform and convert to Catholicism himself, they could paint fruit bats purple for all he cared.

Once grace was over, the nervous feelings it brought dissipated from Hiei. Midori slightly bowed to the students and turned toward the service line for dinner herself. Everyone was back to normal. The weirdness left. The room was buzzing with talk, laughter, and scratching utensils. Hiei sat silently alone. Everything was as it was meant to be.

Or it had been until…

"You know," Minamino said as he sat down with his tray to the right of Hiei, "…if you did not scowl so much, someone might actually talk to you."

Hiei picked at his steamed vegetables. He _had_ been eating alone, perfectly quietly alone before his 'tutor' showed up. Hiei shot him a sidelong glare. _Go. Away._ Perhaps if Hiei thought the words strongly enough, the redhead would take a hint and obey.

Minamino gestured with his plastic fork. "That one. It's scaring everyone away."

 _Why isn't it working on you then?_ Hiei growled. How dense could one guy be? Everybody else left him alone, why couldn't his tutor? Ah, maybe that was it. Minamino probably felt some sense of duty to act friendly toward him because he was his tutor. Who knows, maybe it was some rule of the student program Minamino was in. For whatever reason why he was hanging around, Hiei didn't want the boy clinging to him all he time just because the school didn't permit one student his solitude.

"Or maybe, others are afraid you will cut them." Hearing that, Hiei threw the boy a rude stare. "Yes, I have heard the rumors. No one _really_ believes you swallowed a switchblade."

Hiei scoffed. Everybody could believe what they wanted to believe. Hiei just didn't want everyone talking about him.

"It is a game of sorts among the sincerely bored to see who can invent the wildest story and often those stories float into the realm of gossip. If it is any consolation, I have been the subject of many outlandish anecdotes." _._

"That doesn't help," Hiei grumbled, his face averted from Minamino's sight. As if Hiei wanted _anything_ in common with Minamino here… Hiei shot the notion down derisively.

No matter if Hiei pretended to be absorbed with his food or how he angled his body or face away from the redhead in obvious disinterest to anything he said, Minamino kept right on talking.

"The storymongers usually prey on those they deem more interesting than themselves, so perhaps if you introduced and associated yourself more, others would see how normal you are and the lies would cease, " Minamino advised.

" _Look_ , " Hiei snapped, his voice like frost, and stabbed his fork into his tray. "Unlike you, maybe I don't _want_ anyone around me."

Minamino smirked. "That is not true. You would not have been eavesdropping earlier at lunch if you did not want a little human contact."

"I do not eavesdrop! " Hiei scowled ferociously, picked up his tray, and stood.

"No need to act like that," Minamino said, smiling and speaking as if he was Hiei's friend. "Come. Sit back down."

"No," Hiei replied. Taking a step forward, he paused and looked back sharply, "You attract flies."

Hiei stormed away, leaving Minamino to ponder curiously to what he meant. While he was thinking, a cheery voice called his name and broke his concentration. A girl sat beside him. Then a boy came. Then another and more until the table was full. Suddenly, Kurama understood what Hiei meant.

-o-

Hiei unlocked the door to his dorm room and flipped the nearby light switch to discover he was no longer alone. While no boy was present, the stranger's possessions were—street punk idols and heavy metal posters on the walls, his desk lamp and textbooks cluttering the only desk in the room, and his open suitcases laying on the bed Hiei had intended to take. Hiei's suitcases and the textbooks from his afternoon classes still remained where he left them on the other bed but leaving his stuff there hadn't meant Hiei wanted to sleep on _that_ bed.

Hiei, standing in the doorframe, could see photos standing on the windowsill. The boy had opened the thick, coarse oatmeal-colored curtains and the windows. The air in the room now wafted stale and dry atmosphere mixed with the suggestion of cherry blossoms. Outside, the stirrings of sunset were in its beginnings. The sun hung just above the pine hills and sat atop the cathedral's spire like a blazing gem crowning a wizard's staff.

"What are you lurking about for?" Kuwabara said behind Hiei and stood in the hallway. He pursed his lips to a bottle of water and gulped half of it down readily.

"Lurking?" Hiei scowled. The word sounded no better in his voice than it had dribbling out of Kuwabara's mouth. "I live here."

"Well, duh, we all do, but that doesn't excuse you from snooping around every open door and entering people's rooms when they're not there. It's creepy, y'know, and really not nice," Kuwabara said, wedging past Hiei into the room. After moving his suitcases below the bed, the lanky boy plopped down on the creaking bed and reclined back, his head laying in his propped hand. "Why ya just standing there lookin' at me? You can go back to your room too, y'know. Or do you just like staring at me 'cause you think I'm handsome?"

 _Idiot._ Hiei sharpened his glare."This IS my room." _Or it_ was _'til you appeared._

Kuwabara lay sucking down the water and stared pensively at Hiei, who wasn't sure if any thought was occurring or not in the fellow's head. Hiei could only infer from what he could see, and right now, all Kuwabara was doing was flatly looking at him fish-lipped around the rim of the water bottle as wide air bubbles flowed up along the side and burst at the base.

Slowly lowering the plastic bottle, Kuwabara, his eyebrows gradually shooting up in mild alarm, wished Hiei was lying. "Wait. That makes us _roommates_?"

"Took you that long to figure that out?" Hiei sardonically replied as he walked past the threshold and stepped into the room.

Kuwabara bolted out of the bed, his feet hitting the floor with a heavy thud, and blocked Hiei from further passage into the room. "If that's how it is then, let's get one thing clear first, half-pint. You can stop treating me like I'm stupid."

"And you'll do _what_ to me?"

The fool was just standing there, clenched fists raised, bristling like a crouched tomcat ready to spat but waiting. Probably debating over the rules, in all likelihood. That's where he and Hiei differed. Hiei didn't care. If Hiei had wanted to slug him, he would have but Kuwabara wasn't worth the waste of energy.

"Tch. Coward," Hiei muttered not so quietly and turned his head to the side.

For all his anger and Hiei's smart mouth, logic apparently barely won over feeling in Kuwabara's decision whether or not to pound Hiei into shrimp tartar. "Face it. We're stuck together," the lanky boy growled, dropping his fighting stance. "You gotta treat me with a little respect or I'll make you. That's how it goes."

"No, it doesn't," Hiei replied, moving toward Kuwabara's bed. Before the boy realized what was going on, Hiei had grabbed Kuwabara's suitcases and flung each out the door. The flimsy locks had cracked upon impact and Kuwabara's clothes spilled out and laid strewn about in the hall.

"You don't touch another man's stuff!" Kuwabara, the rocks in his voice booming with the ferocity of an avalanche, wrenched Hiei around by the collar and met his glare scorn for scorn. "And you _certainly_ don't _throw_ them out!"

"My, my, I am thankful I decided to see how you two were getting along," Sister Midori (well…her head poking in from the doorway) cheerfully spoke. Midori excused herself as she hopped over Kuwabara's things and entered the room.

"Care to explain why it's any of _your_ business?" Hiei hissed coldly. He looked over to see Kuwabara's jaw hanging open in stunned surprise.

Midori simply smiled, her eyes mirthful crescents. "I'm your house advisor, silly. It's my duty to watch over everyone on this floor and keep everyone happy and in line. Now, are _we_ having a problem getting along?"

 _As if she HAD to ask_ , Hiei scoffed.

Kuwabara pointed at Hiei and squawked, "He threw my stuff out!"

"You are NOT staying with me!" Hiei scowled, eyes blazing and then smoldering as he turned to and ordered Midori, "Move him somewhere else."

"I'm afraid that is not possible," Midori said chipper. "You see… Due to the continuous noise and fighting with his previous roommate, Yusuke Urameshi, disrupting the other students, we had to place Kuwabara with the only available male student."

 _Namely me_ , Hiei gritted his teeth.

"So, Urameshi gets a room all to himself? That's not right," Kuwabara protested, crossing his arms over his chest like a cheated child. "Urameshi was the one that put my head through the wall, so why do I get stuck with the new kid and he gets rewarded? He's probably grinnin', laughin', and smuggling chicks over right now, the bastard…"

Midori awkwardly laughed and lightly shook her head no. "Not to worry, Kuwabara, I assure you Yusuke can't do that. …We switched you with Hiei's roommate…well, the boy that was to be his roommate. Unless circumstances change and there is another boy with an open placement, Kuwabara, you are and will remain Hiei's roommate."

 _Not unless I make it so bad they have nothing else to do but remove him,_ Hiei plotted. _That shouldn't be too difficult._

Kuwabara begrudgingly agreed with the sister and excused himself to go collect his things.

Midori smiled serenely as her attention shifted to Hiei. "And you're going to have to get used to living with Kuwabara, understood? You can disagree but no fighting. Work things out with words, not fists. That should be a great little lesson for you to learn." Sister Midori turned to leave, paused mid-step, and faced Hiei once more. "Learning to cohabit closely with another will be a good experience for you also."

The sister graciously left and, frankly, in Hiei's point of view, she bowed out at the right time. His blood wasn't simmering—it was far past boiling! _'It will be good for you'_ , he mocked. What did SHE know about him? Nothing. So _what_ exactly made her an expert on what was 'good' for him?

Hiei moved his suitcases beneath the bed. He sat down in the middle and pressed his back against the wall. Finally, he drew his legs in close and brooded. He wanted to release his anger. He wanted to fight. At the orphanage, if he couldn't fight, he yelled at the director. If the director didn't want to face him, he did anything possible to _make_ her angry. Here, away from his outlets, Hiei was left adrift in his own sea of conflict.

Kuwabara piled his clothes and other personal items on his bed and started the process of returning everything back into his cases. Hiei could feel him sneaking glances over at him, looking about as friendly as a snarling wolverine. If the idiot thought they would try and set some ground rules and maybe even find some compromise, he deserved to be in the special class for more than just science. But Kuwabara was more than happy to let Hiei stew in silence. Fine by him.

The sun had slipped out of sight beneath the pine trees. Though a layer of white-gold light, the last remnants of the sun's presence, spread across the horizon, the warmth was fading and was being replaced by the cool dark blues of night. Even the first star or two of the evening began twinkling in the heavens above. Kuwabara finished repacking and sat at the desk to start on his homework, which reminded Hiei that he too had work that needed to be attended to.

Algebra text in lap and an open notebook folded-back atop of that, Hiei trudged from one tiresome problem to the next and this time he was 'showing his work'. He did not want to be doing this, his anger still billowing around him raw and writhing like a den of snakes, but it was just simpler to do the work now than later. With each repetitive problem, he grew to hate Algebra, just as his previous indifference to Sister Midori had flourished to outright hate. He never would have considered this before, but perhaps…his life was better at the orphanage.

 _Quit being stupid_ , he told himself. _You weren't doing anything there and you'd end up nothing coming from there._

Chalking the bulk of his frustrations to the crushing sensory overload of his first day at Sacred Heart Academy, Hiei breathed a soft sigh for relief and forced himself to power through the next twenty Algebra equations.


	3. Chapter 3

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH.

-o-

Chapter Three: Boys Will Be Boys

-o-

It was Wednesday now, Hiei's third day at Sacred Heart Academy, and nothing in the following days had raised his opinion of the school, its staff, or its residents.

Hiei hated being here. His schoolwork only mildly engaged him at best and normally was simply a tedious bore to plow through or ignore entirely, and the teachers—with their personalities and teaching styles ranging in varying extremes between Sister Midori's cheery, bleeding heart and Father Iwamoto's belligerent, snapping dictatorship—were all no more than fools in lords' clothing. The student body still whispered and directed their attentions at Hiei everywhere he went.

And with everyone's continuing fascination with him came the flooded streams of gossip, false truths, and rumors about him. The names and fallacies Hiei could handle. It was the staring and the fact that the school carried on talking about him that grated his patience and fed his anger.

And about his anger…

Hiei's anger had yet to settle or ebb since his first night when Sister Midori inadvertently provoked him with her apparent all-knowing of what was best for him. Since then, Hiei's unmitigated rage went into cycles of feeding and dormancy. Sometimes, in an unconscious effort to ease the pressure on his body, his anger writhed in what felt like many hissing snakes around him and slowly seethed. Or otherwise, like now, it adopted the manner of a sleeping lion, crouching and waiting, either for an appropriate outlet to discharge itself in or the moment to openly strike.

The point remained that Hiei was not happy.

Hiei glanced up at the clock above the whiteboard and cursed that he was still stuck for twenty-five more minutes under Minamino's guidance. Hiei shot a look out a window and saw it was yet another clear, sunny day. The laughter of students just beyond the glass (ones who did not require tutoring or had extra-curricular activities outside) irritated Hiei and kept him restless in his seat. Having finished the work for his regular science class and Minamino's menial assignment, Hiei wandered his sight around the classroom and repeatedly attempted but failed to doze off amid the scratching pencils of his classmates, Minamino's squeaking marker, and the distant rumbling of low-flying aircraft.

In an effort to better occupy his time and amuse himself, Hiei ripped out a sheet of notepaper and started a little sketching. Hiei was no artist and never wanted to be, but he could do stick figures and they served his purposes well enough.

Hiei settled on his subject almost without wavering and proceeded with lesser hesitation than that. He had his figure completed in a matter of strokes, but it lacked the one telltale detail of whom it represented. Drawing Minamino's weird hair gave Hiei the most trouble, but he expected that. Its odd form begrudgingly forced Hiei to peer up multiple times at his tutor, but he looked only when Minamino faced the board and was occupied with writing. It took a minute or two of studying, but once Hiei understood Minamino's hair was essentially tarantula-like in shape, however, the problem became less troubling than a quiet joke.

This sketch of Minamino, now accompanied by a set of open, drooling, fanged jaws framing his head, grew more inflammatory as Hiei erased the stick body and put Minamino in a shapely dress, making him either a woman, a transsexual, or possibly a transvestite. It did not matter which. So far, Minamino's purpose served to annoy and enrage Hiei with his incessant politeness and _insistence_ that he should sit beside and chat with Hiei at every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so at least now he served some form of entertainment. Hiei suppressed the urge to chuckle darkly but could not crush a deep smirk at his work.

As Hiei fleshed out the monster poised to devour Minamino's head, his eyes caught a ruffle of movement as Yusuke, sitting in front of Hiei, slipped a folded-over strip of paper onto Kuwabara's desk, to Hiei's right. Hiei watched his _other_ source of irritation and inadvertent roommate cover his hand over the paper, which to anyone watching would have been an _obvious_ sign that Kuwabara and Yusuke were up to something, and slid it closer to himself before picking the note up and reading it.

Hiei didn't catch any bit of what the note said. Didn't care. Yusuke turned and gave Kuwabara a knowing smirk to which he responded with a quick nod. Yusuke, still smirking, went back to his assignment and Kuwabara, having noticed Hiei watching them, narrowed his eyes at Hiei and shot him a wordless order to keep his nose out their business.

 _As if you're worth the waste of breath_ , replied Hiei's glare.

Hiei focused back on his drawing and debated whether or not to visibly turn Minamino into a woman or to add another monster biting his stick leg instead.

"Hiei," Minamino's gentle voice persuaded the quiet to leave and brought Hiei's art time to a close. "Would you please answer the question I have written on the board?" Minamino, standing at the board and facing the class, stepped to the side and indicated the question at the top of the list.

Quickly, Hiei read the question and answered. "The scientific method is…" His pause was only to lock eyes with Minamino and scowl at him, "…a load of bullshit."

 _You asked for an answer_ , Hiei thought, keeping his frown and stare on Minamino, _and you got one. Now_ leave _me alone._

While the use of curse words would have bothered most of the teachers and incited a reprimand, Minamino was not flustered. He didn't react at all.

"Hmm…" Minamino stared up at the ceiling as he paced once or twice in front of the whiteboard in a playful mock consideration of Hiei's answer. "No, Hiei, I do not think that is _quite_ the right answer…" He met Hiei's gaze, smoothed the light teasing from his voice, and smiled encouragingly. "Please, try again for me."

Hiei heard and saw Kuwabara and Yusuke snickering heavily around him. He scowled at the both of them and breathed a low, angry hiss before reluctantly giving Minamino the correct answer.

"Thank you, Hiei." Minamino nodded and then wrote out Hiei's answer on the board. And without turning from the board, Minamino said, "Yusuke, Kuwabara, why don't you answer the next two questions? Yusuke, you first, please."

"Damn it," Yusuke quietly cursed as Kuwabara slumped down in his seat and grumbled underneath his breath. As if the tall lump of a boy had anything to complain about, really…it served them both right.

Hiei did not hide his sudden small, wry smirk.

-o-

There were two ways of reaching the library from the Science Hall. The longer path was a straight walk up through the campus, past the cathedral and then a left turn leading a short ways to the library steps. The shorter path and the one Hiei took in this instance would pass by the Liberal Arts Hall—which, like how the Science Hall also housed the facilities and classrooms for the Academy's Mathematics and Psychology courses, contained the Modern Japanese, English, History, etc, departments—and then it would take a few loose strides to arrive at the library.

The library was as large as any of the classroom halls, if not greater. It had three stories and bore a similar architectural style to the administration offices, except that the walls were white and the trim a pastel yellow. Up the stairs, Hiei stepped and entered the library for the first time. The building's large size granted plenty of wide space as did its high, lofty ceilings on each level, that Hiei expected. The ultra-bright surgical lights illuminating from the ceilings, he did not. Well, Hiei did not know if the lights were _really_ surgical lights and he doubted they were, but they shone with the same blinding intensity as if they were.

Hiei wandered, his echoing steps tapping against the honey-colored wood floors, past thick white support columns and rows upon rows of filled bookcases. The hushed sounds of flipping pages and books sliding off shelves and the rare sighting of another student told Hiei he was not alone on each floor, but either no one noticed him or they simply ignored his presence as he walked by. Hiei glanced at book titles when they met his curiosity, but otherwise, meandered from shelf to shelf, sometimes brushing his fingertips along a line of weathered spines for the hell of it.

Few things, and even fewer people, garnered Hiei's respect, and books were among that select minority. Hiei learned from an early age that people generally left others alone if they saw that person reading, and once he realized that, Hiei capitalized on the fact and ran with it, almost never having a book out of his reach at the orphanage. It was not that he _liked_ reading, though he had come across stories he had enjoyed—it was more about the physical barrier books allowed him to put up between himself and the rest of the world. He could be left alone for hours and no one would yell at him, and if he grew bored, Hiei had a ready source of entertainment propped in front of him. And so for being his escape and his shield, Hiei respected books, a lot more than he did people.

Time slipped by faster than Hiei realized it would, passing with little disturbance. Sitting with his entire body closely drawn in a seat in one of the library's numerous nooks and study spaces as he read, Hiei only became aware of his lost hours when his stomach pained him for dinner. He took note of his page number and closed his reading. Sliding the rest of his selections underneath his arm, Hiei stood and made his way toward the stairs.

As he approached, Hiei huffed impatiently at what he thought was an empty circulation desk until a dart of movement crouched below the desk informed him he was wrong. Either the librarian in charge had a Napoleon complex or simply liked looking down on others since the circulation desk stood raised on an elevated platform forcing many students, the younger ones undoubtedly, to peer up to receive service. Hiei found it especially demeaning having to rise onto the tips of his toes to slide his books onto the counter.

When no one rose, Hiei curtly cleared his throat and asked, "Hey, can I get a check out?"

"Certainly," said a familiar soft voice and an even more familiar redhead appeared from below the desk.

Surprised at first, Hiei quickly grew irritated at the sight of Kurama Minamino looking back at him brightly and smiling kindly for what seemed like the thousandth time these past few days. Whether it was borderline stalking, Hiei wasn't sure, but coincidences occurred often of late that constantly brought Hiei and his tutor together. Hiei hated it and cursed liberally in his thoughts.

"May I have your school identification card, please?" Minamino asked, offering his palm.

As he fumbled in his pocket for his id, Hiei fixed his glare on Minamino and scowled bitterly. "You work here?"

Hiei hoped not. He really did not want to avoid the books because of his tutor, though Hiei supposed he could read in the library and elude the circulation desk if need be. There were always ways to circumvent interacting with Minamino and limiting Hiei's said interaction strictly to the walls of Room 104, at least that was the knowledge Hiei comforted himself with.

Minamino lightly shook his head from side to side. "No, but I am allowed to acquire whatever I need completed behind the desk whenever I want. The students who work here know me and the head librarian trusts me, so here I am." Minamino took and scanned Hiei's card and handed it back to him.

"Aren't you overstepping that trust by checking out books for others than yourself?" Hiei, to his own wonder, asked.

Hiei did not know why he continued the conversation. It was not as if he cared to hear Minamino's response or that his tutor was exceeding an arrangement between himself and the library staff. Hell, it was just books, not money, Minamino was slipping out of the library.

"As long as I do everything by the book, no one minds or even notices, in truth," Minamino said and then smiled once more.

There was something peculiar this time about Minamino's smile, Hiei noted, maybe it was how his serene smile did not reach or combined with his eyes, but there was something intentionally unknowable to it. If Hiei had not come to understand that Kurama Minamino was the Academy's perfect model student, their little unblemished peach, Hiei might have said there was a trace slyness in Minamino's smile. But being who Minamino was, it obviously was not, so Hiei let the matter die. By now, he no longer cared what, if anything, he saw in Minamino's smile.

Minamino picked up Hiei's books and one by one scanned their codes into the computer and ran their spines and sides over the demagnetizer. When he came to Hiei's final book (and the one he had been reading upstairs), however, he paused and rested his hand gently atop its leather-bound cover.

"You know…" Minamino said, "if you enjoy reading _Frankenstein_ , our library also has an excellent edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ that you might be interested in."

 _Check out the_ damn _book already_ , ordered Hiei's sharp glare and thoughts. _I don't need reading recommendations from you._

Unfazed, Minamino merely shrugged his shoulders at Hiei's hostile silence and wore his usual gentle smile as he finished checking out Hiei's books and slid a due date-stamped bookmark into Mary Shelley's classic.

"If memory serves me right, it should be about time for dinner," Minamino said as he handed Hiei his books. "Shall we?"

"No," Hiei said tersely, as he dropped the slimmer books into his school-issued briefcase. "I'm not hungry."

Hiei's stomach, just then, complained otherwise.

Minamino could not have appeared more amused. "Let's go then," he said, picking up his school briefcase, and stepped down and away from the circulation desk.

Pausing at the door, Minamino turned and waited. Remaining where he stood, Hiei huffed, adverted his glare to the side, and scowled in displeasure. He had already spent more than an hour in Minamino's presence already and didn't want to spend a moment more, but he was hungry and didn't consider skipping meals to avoid his tutor plausible or wise. Minamino was going to sit with him no matter what in any case, so Hiei might as well gain some benefit, even if it was only nutrition, while stuck in his company.

So begrudgingly in tow, Hiei followed and marched out of the library thanklessly through Minamino's held-open door.

-o-

As understanding went, Kurama Minamino understood much—his perfect scores would attest to that—and there were yet plenty other things beyond books and facts he understood well, but Kurama would sincerely admit, much to his admiring classmates' laughter and playful cajoling afterwards, that there _were_ still some things he did not understand yet.

Kurama sat in his dorm room in the school's comfortless chair with his legs casually crossed and resting on top of his bed. Despite his clock reading fifteen minutes past seven, he had yet to change out of his school uniform or even loosen his tie. Though he had pushed the heavy curtain aside with the intent of observing the sun set over the horizon, Kurama directed no more attention after that to the curtain or the day's fading light. He sat with his back to the window staring down at a crinkled sheet of paper in his hand. Though his eyes were fixed on the paper, his stare offered no emotion and revealed only that he was intent in thought.

He had seen Hiei ball his paper and drop it into the bin as he left the room at the end of class earlier today. Kurama knew it had been unwise to pick it up, but his curiosity had out-persuaded his caution. And for his curiosity, he got his nose pinched for sticking it out where he shouldn't have. At least, it was only a light pinch and not as offensive or vulgar as _other_ artistic insults at him in the past had been. By now, gazing upon Hiei's drawing no longer twinged the way it had when Kurama originally smoothed out the page. The drawing itself had never hurt Kurama—it was too coarse and juvenile to do him harm. It was the spiteful intent and mean feelings behind the drawing, however, that concerned Kurama.

"I do not like thee Doctor Fell…" Kurama said, his voice hushed, as he continued looking at Hiei's crude caricature of him as if it were, and in a sense it was, a particularly difficult logic problem, "…the reason why I cannot tell."

Kurama's further contemplation would have to wait. Hearing a key being inserted and watching the knob turn, Kurama lowered Hiei's drawing onto his lap, dropped his legs from the bed, and looked to the door as his roommate entered. The curly, dark-haired boy paused mid-opening the door and met Kurama's calm gaze with a mild surprise in his beady dark eyes. His roommate's disbelief froze quickly into his usual cool courtesy.

"Minamino sitting in his room… I never thought I would see the day," Kaitou said dryly humorous.

Kurama gave a brief, polite laugh. "Just resting for a moment. Our room will be yours soon enough."

Kurama was not certain of the exact reason why Kaitou was made his roommate for the third year in a row and never inquired as to why, but for some reason, Sacred Heart Academy saw the necessity to pair their top and second-best student together as roommates year after year. By now, Kurama did not mind, though Kaitou always seemed perturbed at being 'stuck for another year with the great Kurama Minamino'. Kurama noted, that for all his grumbling, Kaitou had never requested to be moved. After three years together, they were used to each other, and had a fine arrangement of armed neutrality, among other agreements and tolerances, between them that suited their forced association well to this day.

Kaitou closed the door behind him and stepped into the room, bringing with him the typical awkward silence between them. It was Kaitou's rivalry with Kurama that carried the chill stillness and drove ice floes between them.

Kurama bore no contest toward Kaitou, but then again, he had no reason to. It was Kurama who, term after term, held the top score in the school, not Kaitou. But even if their positions ever turned, Kurama still would not be bothered or feel challenged as his roommate was by him. _Differences of people_ , Kurama thought and shrugged his shoulders faintly.

Setting his school briefcase on his bed, Kaitou began removing his tie and then stopped as he side-glanced at Kurama and fixed on the crinkled paper in his hands. Kaitou smirked. "Is that a sign of frustration, Minamino? What happened? You receive a less than perfect mark?"

Kurama gave another short laugh for courtesy. "Just a bit of fan art, Kaitou. Nothing of concern."

Kaitou faced Kurama. Interest, not concern, marked his expression. "May I?" he asked, his voice smooth and measured, and outstretched his hand.

Kurama debated whether to allow Kaitou to see the drawing or not, and whether in doing so, if it was like offering Kaitou a knife and a free stab at him anywhere he wished. But part of dealing and living with Kaitou was growing an emotional skin thick enough that his subvert snide quips and barbs could not pierce. Kurama had done that. Deciding he had no care for what Kaitou's response would be, Kurama handed him Hiei's drawing.

"How quaint… Your admirer has mastered cave painting…" Kaitou smiled sardonically at the drawing, his voice matching the cool sarcasm in his expression. "That's quite a leap of evolution and in only three days? No wonder you're so proud. By the end of first term, you might not be burned as a witch. … _Might_." Kaitou snapped his wrist and handed the crumpled drawing back.

"I suspect all is not well in your tutoring classes?" Kurama asked, as he gently laid Hiei's drawing on the desk to his left.

Kaitou sat on his bed and sighed loudly. "Not a problem of your sort, but yes," Kaitou explained as he removed his tie and tossed it to the foot of his bed. "I grow weary of having to repeatedly explain what a metaphor is, its uses, and what its differences to a simile are."

"Already on comparisons?" Kurama asked. "I thought you would open with the parts of speech since that is the typical course of an English syllabus."

Kaitou did not look up as he untied and removed his shoes. "I have an adventurous group with the brains and attention span of a magpie in a jewelry shop. They keep me bouncing from topic to topic but cannot seem to retain any information I pass on."

"Have you tried jiggling keys while you talk?" Kurama teased.

Kaitou looked up. "Funny, Minamino," Kaitou said, sneering. "So you _can_ insult others. …Seems like the great Kurama Minamino is capable of anything, aren't you." Kaitou had not proposed the last bit as a question.

Kurama smiled. "Simply trying to be helpful and advise you in the medium you are most accustomed to," he said graciously, as Kaitou fixed a hard, level stare at him, brought by Kurama's response into a rare case of speechlessness. Kurama darted a glance at his alarm clock and rose from his seat. "Please excuse me, Kaitou. I know we chat so infrequently nowadays and while I have enjoyed talking with you, I have a scheduled engagement and then a full night of paperwork to attend to."

Kaitou briefly quirked a brow, but was not surprised to hear such an announcement out of Kurama. "In other words, I should expect you to return late as always and to not worry when the midnight hour arrives and you are not in bed."

Kurama slipped his light purple book bag over one shoulder, picked up his school briefcase waiting at the foot of his bed, and headed for the door. "Precisely," he said to Kaitou and left, the gold foxtail trinket on his book bag flicking behind him.

-o-

Hiei jerked awake. He awoke panting, sweating, and touching his neck. He felt all over his throat uncertain of what he was looking for. Bruises were logical, so were sore points, but neither was correct. Whatever his hands were searching for, Hiei did not find and that brought him great relief. He sighed deeply and slouched forward. He caught his breath.

 _It had been a dream. Nothing more_ , Hiei reminded himself.

Hiei had lied. His dream had not been nothing but a dream. It _had_ meant something, or otherwise Hiei would not be sitting upright in his bed in the middle of the night sweating with his heart racing over _nothing_.

Thing was…Hiei could not remember his dream.

As soon as he awoke, the dream had dissipated into smoke, and try as he might to snatch onto a remnant of his nightmare, the dream simply curled around his grasping memory and eluded him time after time. There was nothing of the dream left to recall, but its fright remained.

Hiei tossed the sheets away from his sweaty body. They clung and stuck to his skin in ways that tightly bound Hiei. Hiei needed freedom. He needed air.

Hiei swung his legs over his bedside and found his school uniform crumpled on the floor where he last left it. He put it on simply because he needed clothes and he was too tired to hunt for anything else. As he slipped on his shoes, Hiei noticed the absence of noise pollution Kuwabara called snoring. And then he noticed the complete absence of the buffoon entirely. Not that that concerned Hiei. He was rather grateful and relieved the oaf hadn't seen Hiei in such a state of…vulnerability. Hiei didn't need such secrets laundered about the school to give everyone further reason to stare at him.

"Probably just got lost trying to find the toilet," Hiei grumbled and gave no added thought to his roommate's whereabouts. Hiei padded his pocket for his key and left to find some much needed air.

-o-

The night was chillier than Hiei expected, though while no early spring night was ever very warm, the temperature tonight seemed to border on winter. Hiei wished he had thrown on his jacket, but he was already outside and had less desire to go back in yet. The cool air cleared his mind well, and the chill distracted him from feeling anything but cold. And the best remedy for feeling cold was to keep walking.

Around shadowy buildings and under the soft blue light of the buzzing halogen streetlamps, Hiei crossed the campus and wandered the walkways looking up at the cloudy, starless night on his whim. Hiei knew not the time, though he suspected he had been gone more than an hour and knew it was past midnight. And yet, Hiei saw a few lights on in the dorms and moving students ghosting the windows. None of them mattered. Hiei walked wherever he pleased, in light and darkness, and slowly the cold froze his fear, his anger, and finally Hiei felt nothing.

The long walk had done him well. The lingering shadows of fear from his dream seemed to be gone, swept out like filthy gray cobwebs from the edges of his mind. Hiei felt worn out enough to sleep, perhaps dreamlessly, for the rest of the night. Hiei stopped, standing near the music hall, and raised his head in search of the dorms. In his surveying, Hiei heard a faint tinging noise through the quiet night. Curious, Hiei followed the sound and his questioning increased, as the sound became more of a clang than the light metal ting it had begun as.

As he passed somewhere between the two dormitories, Hiei realized the sound was taking him toward the gym, more specifically behind the gym, where there were no streetlights and no need for them. Students typically had no reason to be back there, at least no _good_ reasons. Growing very close, Hiei heard snickering and the hissing of spray cans, and then he recognized what the rattling clang was.

"What are you _idiots_ up to?" Hiei asked, scowling, as he stepped around the corner and made out the shapes of Yusuke standing and Kuwabara crouching by the wall, paint cans poised in hand.

Carrying himself defensively and ready to fight, Yusuke turned to Hiei, and even though Hiei couldn't see his face well, he could feel his anger. Obviously, the boy had not intended to get caught tonight.

Hiei saw Kuwabara rise and nudge Yusuke in the shoulder. "…Relax. It's just Hiei," he murmured.

Yusuke uttered a curt grunt that seemed to mean he agreed with Kuwabara, and he partially returned to spraying the gym's back wall and eyeing Hiei at the same time.

"Runt," Kuwabara barked as he resumed his broadly crouched stance. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?" Technically, Kuwabara had not _said_ a word but he had made his intentions understandable.

"I don't obey orders," Hiei coldly replied.

Yusuke snorted. "Yea... You only roll over for Minamino."

"I DO NOT!" Hiei scowled furiously and bared his teeth. If his anger could form real snakes, he had no doubt the serpents would be spitting cobras…or a basilisk.

Yusuke barely flinched at Hiei's shout, but Kuwabara, though standing his ground, was eyeing him warily. Neither one of the three boys had snuck out of bed intending to fight that night, but if it came to blows, not one would mind.

Yusuke smiled wryly and swaggered as he walked up to Hiei. He left only a single step between them when he stopped. "You say you don't, but we've seen you." He tossed a quick nod over his shoulder at Kuwabara. "You _sit_ with Minamino and he always calls on you first. He gives _you_ second-chances. Minamino pays a lot of attention to you for someone who's not his buddy."

"I am _not_ his friend," Hiei's voice turned low and cold, a sign of his true anger. " _He_ sits with me, not the other way around. I don't know why he calls on me. Maybe he finds it funny. _I_ _don't know._   But I'm not his friend."

Yusuke watched Hiei closely, his gaze intently searching for something, just what, only Yusuke knew. Hiei frowned upon the intensity of Yusuke's stare but bore the gaze with only a mild visible measure of discomfort. Kuwabara bounced his sight from Hiei to Yusuke and back, not entirely sure of what to make of the scene or what Yusuke was looking for. No one spoke. No one breathed loudly. The rattle in the paint cans fell silent.

"Fine," Yusuke finally spoke, shut his eyes, and turned his head slightly to the side, "I believe you." And Yusuke turned away.

Yusuke, and Kuwabara soon after, went back to tagging obscenities and crude stick figures in various sexual positions on the wall and ignored that Hiei was there. Hiei stood off to the side watching them and rubbed his chilled arms for warmth. He tried disregarding and explaining to himself that he wasn't irritated that _both_ Yusuke and Kuwabara had the sensibility to wear jackets and he had not.

"You find this funny?" Hiei said, deciding if he couldn't be warm, he would snub their juvenile handiwork instead.

"Not really," Yusuke said, to Hiei's surprise.

This childish display seemed just right for the humor of the sort of boy Yusuke was, at least that's what Hiei's assumptions had him pegged as.

Yusuke stepped back, as if admiring his work, and grinned at Hiei. "We know it's a stupid prank. …But it pisses off ol' Takenaka when we do stupid shit like this."

"And the teachers," Kuwabara added, pausing to shake up his paint can. "Takenaka's all right, but assholes like Akashi and Iwamoto deserve the hell we put them through. Fact is, the only place that's good for them is Hell."

Hiei could agree. While Hiei didn't have Akashi for his regular science class, Iwamoto was his Algebra teacher and had hounded him on day one for not showing his work on his paper. Since then, Iwamoto had gone out of his way to pound Hiei with extra homework every day and chomped at the bit to assign Hiei detention, though as of yet he had not. Couldn't, that is. So far, the only good Iwamoto had been was being a living reminder to Hiei to reread _Frankenstein_ , which Hiei planned on reading in class everyday and wondered if the bastard would catch on to the delicate insult.

While Hiei was distracted, Yusuke had walked up and stood beside Hiei. "Hey, Hiei," Yusuke said, snapping Hiei back to attention but not in time to dodge the spray paint.

"…Got'cha." Yusuke grinned.

Hiei did not stay. Couldn't, without hurting someone. He scowled at Yusuke and stormed off in anger. While he could not see the size of the spray just yet, Hiei smelt the paint's stink and felt ill. He hoped the paint did not seep through to his skin. When he reached the front of the gym, Hiei stood underneath the nearby streetlight and looked at the stain. It was black paint on his white shirt, the stain was about the size and shape of a baseball, and his chest was paint-free.

 _Yusuke was lucky about that_ , Hiei thought and then faintly smirked, _Really, he did me a favor. Can't wear my school uniform now. Not with this large, irremovable stain on my shirt._ Hiei, though still very angry at Yusuke for spraying him in the first place, had to thank him there. Even if only a tiny bit.

Hiei cut across the grass and made his way toward the dorms. By now, he was truly tired. Tired enough to, perhaps, skip his first class, and maybe his second, or to sleep in until lunch, but he was definitely missing Algebra (even though it was an afternoon class), and maybe have a Minamino-free afternoon as well. Hiei smirked, delighting in the thought of an afternoon devoid of showing his work on every problem and annoying redheads, one who lacked the common sense to leave him alone and the other without any sense at all.

 _I'll be sick tomorrow,_ Hiei grabbed one of the twin metal door handles to his dorm. _And if anybody asks, it was the paint._

"I knew it wouldn't be long 'til I caught you up to something, Jaganshi," said a voice, a deeply, irritatingly familiar voice to Hiei.

Hiei did not need to turn around to know who was behind him. He remained where he stood, holding one of the handles, poised to open the door. Really, if he had made it back just a second or two quicker, he would have avoided this but that was not the case. Instead, he was stuck, clenching his free hand into a fist and bristling with rage.

_Iwamoto._

Hiei heard the hulking idiot chuckling darkly behind him. "Thought you could sneak past me, didn't you, Jaganshi? Thought you were smart…" Iwamoto wore a malicious smile twisted with arrogance. "I bet you cheated on your admission test, didn't you? That's the only way scum like you slip inside this school."

Hiei refused to turn and face Iwamoto. No, he hadn't cheated on his test. No one had explained what the test was for when the orphanage staff doled out the exam for all the kids ages eleven and older. The staff had purposely kept that information secret. If Hiei had known the exam's intent, he would have flunked it deliberately.

"I warned Takenaka you were gonna be trouble, but of course, he didn't believe me. Now I've got proof," he said, smug.

"What proof?" Hiei, scowling, turned and sharply narrowed his eyes. "I haven't done anything," he snarled.

"Insolent—" Iwamoto flushed and curled his raised hand into a fist. "I'd silence that tongue of yours before—" Iwamoto paused, his fist still raised back, and his angry growl quickly diffused to a cruel laugh. He (and it did not take long for Hiei to notice this) was staring at the paint stain on Hiei's shirt.

Iwamoto grabbed Hiei by the ear and dragged him away from the dorms. "Proof? I've got my proof."

Not about to passively let Iwamoto take him anywhere he wanted, Hiei kicked Iwamoto in the shin. Iwamoto barked in pain and released Hiei, but the bastard was tougher than Hiei expected. Hiei ran but Iwamoto bounded after him and grabbed his wrist in two great leaps. Iwamoto wrenched Hiei backwards and swept his right leg from underneath him. Hiei fell to the ground and Iwamoto pinned his weight against him.

"All you punks are the same," Iwamoto spat, still wincing in pain from Hiei's kick, as he tightly restrained Hiei's left arm against his back. He was breathing heavily and faintly wheezing from his sudden, short sprint. "You all think you can pull a fast one on me, but if you spent five seconds in a classroom, you'd get smart enough to know you can't!"

Iwamoto laughed as he slammed his hand, which might as well have been the size of a bin lid, and crushed the side of Hiei's face into the concrete walkway. The small craters and coarse points in the falsely smooth-appearing concrete abraded his skin and left a large red blotch across his cheek once Iwamoto was finished.

Iwamoto, bracing Hiei's arm, pulled Hiei up by the hair and stood, dragging Hiei up to standing along with him. "We'll see what the headmaster has to say about this." Hiei, even though Iwamoto pulled his head back and couldn't see his face well, knew Iwamoto was smiling broadly, and was, no doubt, extremely proud of himself right now.

"…And we'll add assaulting a teacher to your list of tonight's offenses as well." Iwamoto laughed darkly and gave another strong, satisfying yank of Hiei's hair. "How I love making worms like you squirm," he murmured and shoved Hiei off toward the cathedral.


	4. Chapter 4

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho still.

-o-

Chapter Four: The Honor Code

-o-

Standing outside the Headmaster's Office in the short hallway, Hiei leaned against the cool stone wall and side-glared at Iwamoto to his left. No kick or punch could free Hiei now, though he thought of possible escapes. Iwamoto's giant hand, however, kept his wrist shackled to the arrogant brute, and Iwamoto held his grip tight. Too tight, in fact—the bastard was trying to crush his wrist!

The stone hallway was dimly lit by rows of mounted incandescent lights in holders fashioned like oil lanterns lining each wall. A few of the bulbs were dead, leaving patches of darkness in the hall. A bright light near Hiei and Iwamoto buzzed and flickered on and off in a grisly but annoying play with the shadows of the hall and Hiei and Iwamoto's standing figures. Luckily, the wait outside was short. Iwamoto rapped his lug nut-sized knuckles sharply on the headmaster's door, and not half a minute later, the door clicked and came open.

"Father Iwamoto." Father Takenaka, his eyebrows raised and his voice reflecting his visible surprise, stood in the doorway looking up at the taller priest. "It is late for a tired old man to entertain company. Please accept my apologies and we'll meet tomorrow night, if that is agreeable—"

As Takenaka closed his door, Iwamoto grabbed the doorframe and stopped him. Takenaka frowned, drew his sandy eyebrows downward, and stared sharply. His hardened eyes demanded to know the meaning behind the priest's impudent behavior.

"Forgive me, sir, but I am not here for a social call." Iwamoto stepped to the side and jerked Hiei into the headmaster's view. "We have business."

Takenaka held an even stare on Hiei's turned face as he nodded in response to Iwamoto. "I see..." The headmaster stepped aside and held the door open. "Come in."

Iwamoto charged into Takenaka's office, dragging Hiei by the wrist inside behind him, and pulled him in the front of a chair with an arched backing standing before Takenaka's desk. There, Iwamoto finally released Hiei from his grip. Hiei stood between the chair and the headmaster's desk looking about the office and massaging his sore wrist. The headmaster's desk was oak, heavy, and large (or at least appeared large in contrast to the overall size of the office). The desk was neat and orderly with only a few folders carefully laid out to the right side and a short stack of letters, bound together by a rubber band, to the left. Everything necessary was in its rightful place or hidden away in desk drawers and standing file cabinets or simply elsewhere in the office. All in line and/or all in place.

Hiei gazed past the desk to the large window, covered in narrow latticework, overlooking the center of the campus. Flanking the sides of the window were two school banners bearing the Academy's colors and initials. There were bookcases lining the rest of the walls and classical music quietly playing in the background. Most of the books, as far as Hiei could tell, were bibles or of some religious nature, though unless Hiei was allowed a closer view, he could not tell for certain. Despite the presence of a fireplace, currently not in use, and Takenaka's personal attempt to bring warmth and kindness to the stone room, the office retained a cold nature.

"Quit gawking and sit!" Iwamoto barked, advancing toward Hiei with the intent of forcing him into the rounded chair.

" _Iwamoto_ …" Takenaka addressed the brutish man indignantly and with a sharp chill in his voice and Iwamoto froze in his stride. "Might I remind you that this is _my_ office and that it is _my_ obligation to offer young Jaganshi here a seat?"

Though he was listening to Takenaka, Iwamoto's eyes were on Hiei and narrowed finely in contempt. "Yes, sir," Iwamoto said through clenched teeth and remained where he stood, grinding his teeth in irritation at being reduced to a snapping beast restrained on the headmaster's leash.

With Father Iwamoto in check, Takenaka turned to Hiei and smiled welcomingly. "Hiei, if you would, please have a seat."

Hiei, his eyes on Takenaka, slowly sat down onto the edge of the wide chair. He found it odd having been offered a seat, instead of being ordered into one as he was used to. Sometimes when he infuriated the orphanage director far enough, she would only point at a chair for him to sit in or, on occasion, straight at his corner in her office, but she never offered him a seat.

Iwamoto flared his nostrils and breathed out a long, bullish snort of air, presumably to calm his head. He straightened before the headmaster and placed his hands behind his back. "I was merely saving you the trouble of ordering the boy yourself, sir. You see…" Iwamoto slid a cold stare over at Hiei and sneered. "This boy requires a heavy hand."

"Is that the conclusion you have reached, Father Iwamoto?" Takenaka asked, his voice indifferent, as if he was inquiring Iwamoto about the weather or some other trivial, obligatory conversation topic with no interest in hearing the man's answer.

"Yes, sir. I suggest you forego the Academy's lighter punishments in handling with this one, sir," Iwamoto said in his croaking voice, his top lip curling in such a way to suggest a slight expectant, cocksure sneer.

"That remains in doubt," Takenaka said impassive as he walked across the large rug lining the center of his stone floor and over to his desk,"…until I have listened to what Mr. Jaganshi has done. And before we proceed in those matters…" He paused in front of his chair and leaned forward slightly and smiled at Hiei. "Would you like some tea?"

"That won't be necessary, but thank you, sir." Iwamoto gave a short tip of his large head for courtesy.

Takenaka raised and stared at Iwamoto with a single brow arched in a look that clearly expressed his disbelief that Iwamoto had the gall to assume that he was speaking to him. "Actually, Iwamoto, I was asking Hiei, but the offer is extended to you as well," he said brisk and formal. Iwamoto flushed in embarrassment and gazed down at the floor in apology for his presumption as glare off the desk lamp fell on his glasses and masked his eyes.

Takenaka returned to Hiei open and kind once more. "Now, Hiei, would you like a cup of tea?"

Hiei shook his head no. He did it without showing the abraded side of his face and remained turned to the side. He did not look at Father Takenaka.

"Really? It would be no trouble."

Hiei's response remained the same. Father Takenaka accepted Hiei's decline and took his seat at his desk.

-o-

Resting his hands one atop the other, Takenaka sat tall and ready to listen. "Now, explain to me the nature of tonight's business, Father Iwamoto."

"Of course, sir." Iwamoto smirked faintly in cruel delight before he spoke. "This boy is in one of my Algebra courses and has, from the first day, been insubordinate and troublesome. He has been, as I warned you he would be, a menace in my classroom."

"Have you attempted to reprimand the boy? How many detentions have you issued?" Takenaka asked dryly.

Iwamoto clamped his lips shut and swallowed his breath abrasively. "Err…none, sir." He shot his view to the side and away from the headmaster's now-narrowed sight. "While I have been observant, the boy is clever and knows how to skirt around receiving detentions."

"You are telling me that you have been unable to assign detentions to a young man you, yourself, described to me as such a delinquent moments ago?"

Iwamoto, already red-faced, flushed darker. "Sir, as I said…the boy is clever…"

"I have no doubt about that," Takenaka said.

Unable to stand looking at Iwamoto without eventually compromising his impartiality to his growing distaste for Iwamoto's weak testimony, Takenaka altered his gaze and rested it on Hiei. Since dragged into his door, the boy had kept his head angled to one side and refused to turn it any other way. But, for an instant, while Iwamoto was pronouncing him a terror in his classroom, Hiei had turned but had immediately corrected his slant. But in the spilt-second, Takenaka had seen the chafed skin and the glaring blood-redness of his cheek.

Forcing himself to breathe slowly, Takenaka tightened his jaw shut to keep himself from speaking the ire in his thoughts and slowly curled his fingers into tight fists as Iwamoto strutted about Takenaka's office and continued his tirade. About what Takenaka wasn't particularly interested in or could bear to listen, though the scraps of what he heard and recalled were more complaints about Hiei's sass to Iwamoto in class.

Whether Iwamoto was done speaking, Takenaka was neither aware nor cared. " _Iwamoto_ , did I not make myself clear that the hour is late for me to be entertaining company?" Takenaka said sternly. "Or are you simply here to vent your vexations before me and the boy or do you have a _point_ to keeping us from our beds?"

Iwamoto froze where he stepped, which happened to be right behind Hiei's seat, and looked with his mouth gaping at the headmaster. Flustered by the headmaster's severity, Iwamoto briefly spluttered angry nonsense under his breath before he regained his coherency.

"Sir, all that before…it was simply a lead up to the boy's crime," Iwamoto said with a placating undercurrent in his croaking voice. He looked down at Hiei and sneered. "I caught the boy returning to the dorms after vandalizing the school, and if you need proof, sir, I ask you to look at the boy's shirt."

And Takenaka did. For all the anger he wanted to direct at Iwamoto, Takenaka had to set aside most of his biting words but keep some of his dry sternness in his voice for Hiei. "This is a serious offense, Mr. Jaganshi. How do you explain yourself?"

" _Explain_ himself?" Iwamoto shouted in disbelief. "He did it, the proof is right in front of you, and you're going to _listen_ to his lies?"

"Y _our tongue, Father Iwamoto!_ " Father Takenaka boomed testily, the irritation in his voice clear. Iwamoto clenched his gaping jaws shut and met the headmaster's fixed, angry stare. "The boy has the right to explain himself, just as you had. I refuse to make haste judgments without all the available facts, and seeing how you were not present for the full incident, I presume, and Hiei was, I need to listen to his side of the story as well. Now…" Takenaka took a deep breath and relaxed his expression. One thing the headmaster strived to be was fair, even if some of his faculty did not share the stand.

Impartiality in himself and in his voice restored, Takenaka looked at Hiei and said, "…Begin, Mr. Jaganshi."

"I didn't do anything," Hiei said and that was it.

"Yes, that is what you're here to prove," Takenaka said measured. "Now what happened, Mr. Jaganshi?"

"I told you," Hiei said stubbornly and crossed his arms over his chest in added defiance. "I didn't do anything."

Father Takenaka shut his eyes and pinched his brow. _Ever obstinate, even when said stubbornness is more of a hindrance to his case than a defense._

Takenaka reopened his eyes, his expression remaining tense but not angry. "Hiei, in order for me to properly determine what has happened, I must know the details from both sides. …You say you have not done anything, but you must be aware of the situation, evident by the paint on your uniform. So since you have done nothing, tell me, then, who is guilty."

Hiei's answer would be unlike any response Father Takenaka had ever heard before.

-o-

Either in his anger forgetting the mark on his cheek or no longer caring if the headmaster saw, Hiei sharply faced Takenaka and said sourly, "I am not your snitch."

Eyes wide and blinking, Takenaka sat taken aback for a moment. "That is…that is not what I meant. …I simply want to know who vandalized the school, Hiei."

"And you're trying to make me your snitch," Hiei said scowling as he rose from the chair. He ignored Iwamoto's bark to sit and approached the headmaster's desk, placing his hands flat atop the desk and leaning toward Takenaka. "This is how it starts," Hiei growled. "I tell you who did this, then you start coming to me for other situations and bribe me or whatnot to tell what I know or to spy for you. You want a snake who will turn on itself and consume its own tail. Makes it easier to run a school like that, having eyes among the students patrolling it for you, doesn't it, old man?"

Iwamoto was sputtering in aghast rage behind Hiei. From what little of his mutterings were intelligible, he was stunned by Hiei's gross disrespect and Takenaka's exception for the boy and evident refusal to punish or even reprimand the boy for his behavior. According to Iwamoto's harsh but softly murmured words, "the little impudent brat deserved a good smack in the face or more…"

"Hiei, I assure you that is not my intention," Takenaka replied in a comforting voice. "Nor would I have my students…to use and paraphrase your words…turn on themselves and patrol for transgressional behaviors. Our Academy has an honor code for that, and while it does request of our students a certain level of vigilance towards their fellow students, it is not of the underhanded manner you so disdainfully spoke of."

Hiei huffed in disbelief and looked off to the side. "Say what you will, I don't care. I'm not your snitch." And Hiei returned to his seat, keeping his arms crossed, his mouth shut, and his eyes staring at Takenaka guardedly.

Takenaka breathed a windy, frustrated sigh and set his interlaced hands atop his desk. "Then you leave me with little choice, Mr. Jaganshi. Whether you are, in absolute truth, guilty or innocent cannot be determined but the proof leans against you. Without proper defense for you, I cannot judge in your favor and must assume based on visible evidence that you are guilty."

Though Hiei refused to turn around, he felt that pompous bastard Iwamoto, delighted by the headmaster's ruling, grinning spitefully behind him. Not that Hiei was anymore pleased with Father Takenaka—Hiei had told him he had not done anything and had been honest, and the headmaster had to be an idiot for he believing a word of anything Iwamoto had spewed. _Blind old fool_ , Hiei grumbled in his thoughts as he waited to hear his falsely indicted punishment.

That would not be the case, however.

"Unless…" Takenaka said, uplifting the inflection of his voice. "You, Mr. Jaganshi, can persuade the guilty to confess to their crime to me before noon tomorrow. Do so and you will be vindicated, but fail to and I will be forced to order you to serve detention under Father Iwamoto. …Am I understood, Mr. Jaganshi?"

"Yes, sir," Hiei muttered.

Takenaka tipped his head in reply and smiled. "Well then, off to bed for you," Takenaka instructed mildly. Hiei, glad to be dismissed and able to leave, stood and walked toward the door.

"Sleep well, Hiei," Takenaka kindly added and to which Hiei did not respond.

Hiei passed by Iwamoto, grimacing in a dark mix of anger and disgust—either at the unfavorable turn of events or simply at Hiei for his presence, as the brutish priest took his leave in follow. With Iwamoto trailing so closely behind him, Hiei raised his guard and kept a wary eye over his shoulder, certain the plotting bastard would try punishing him himself as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Actually, Father Iwamoto, I am not quite done speaking with you," Takenaka said, stern again as he had been when Iwamoto questioned Father Takenaka listening to Hiei's side, and rose from his chair.

Both Hiei and Iwamoto stopped and faced the frowning headmaster as Takenaka walked around his desk and stood in front of it instead. Iwamoto, all his smugness and command lost, stood sweating and took in air as if it was all the oxygen left and he intended to hoard it all. Close to the door, Hiei watched the scene play out with a vague, crooked smirk on his face. Though he did not want to seem to be, Hiei was amused.

"It seems it is not as late as I thought and I would like your presence to remain in my office for just a bit longer." Though he arranged his words as a request, everyone in the room knew it was an order and one for Iwamoto to heed. Continuing, Takenaka tipped his head down and lowered his voice, " …We need to have a little chat."

Watching Iwamoto squirm and twist his insides where he stood made Hiei want to smile but he fought the urge and won—though on the inside, Hiei was laughing darkly. But the show, however entertaining to Hiei, was soon over for him.

"Mr. Jaganshi, I am certain I have said good night to you already," Takenaka said severely, though none of his harshness was actually directed to Hiei. Though he was speaking to Hiei, Takenaka had not removed his set stare on Iwamoto.

With signs made clear that he was not supposed to be here, Hiei left, closing the headmaster's door behind him. Having the feeling that Father Takenaka's words with Iwamoto were going to be very heated and amusing, Hiei considered staying and listening by the door, but eavesdropping was something Hiei Jaganshi just did not do. That and the shroud of sleep that had lifted when Iwamoto assaulted him and stayed away in Takenaka's office had returned and threatened to coil around him and drop him to sleep where he stood unless he made it back to his bed in the next few minutes.

And with the choice between a bed or a stone floor, Hiei would always choose a bed.

-o-

Six-thirty in the morning was a dreadful hour to have to be up and interacting with the idiot masses consisting the Academy's student body. The early rise was nothing to Hiei, being used to automatically waking sometime around five a.m. every day for the last nine years of his life, but his habitual early rise did not make Hiei any more awake in the morning than others or his mood anymore pleasant. On this morning, with the memories of last night's events prominent in his mind and having less sleep than he usually received, Hiei's temper was especially combative and reactive.

Hiei walked up the short series of steps to the dining hall and entered the hall shortly after. Hiei hated waiting, as much as he hated minding his tongue, and all morning, he had forced himself to say nothing about last night in wait to say everything once in front of both Yusuke and Kuwabara. Though Hiei had refrained on the subject of last night, Hiei's snipes at Kuwabara, still his roommate, increased tenfold in amount and rancor, especially as the performing monkey flogged the air and completed jumping-jacks in obedience to the six a.m. radio calisthenics broadcast Kuwabara insisted on doing firsthand every morning.

The dining hall was the same as it ever was—all that ever changed was the menu and rarely the flyers and signs posted on the bulletin boards. It was still noisy, though there were not as many students filling the longtables as there would be at other meals. Visible in any of the many tall windows around the cafeteria, an inviting yellow and tangerine dawn emerged over the hillside as pink clouds partially obscured a rosy rising sun.

Even with the small breakfast crowd, finding Yusuke and Kuwabara was simple. Hiei merely had to follow the yelling. Yusuke sat on a longtable with his feet on the bench, slouched forward, and looking peevishly over at Kuwabara sitting beside him at the table. By the shadows under his eyes and the additional shortness in Yusuke's shouting, it seemed that Hiei was not the only one suffering from a lack of a night's sleep.

"I'm hungry, damn it! Give me your stupid pancake, Kuwabara!" Yusuke snatched at his tray but Kuwabara deflected his hand with a swift raised elbow.

"No way! Get your own!" Kuwabara shouted, sliding his tray away from Yusuke and angling his body protectively over his endangered breakfast.

"The line's too long!" Yusuke whined. "Just give me this one." He bent forward and reached his hand out toward the top pancake on the short stack.

Kuwabara flattened his glare and raised his fork in an assured threat that he would stab Yusuke in the hand if he tried taking _anything_ off his tray again. Sure, maybe his threat would have carried more weight and risk to it if not for all the cafeteria utensils being made of plastic, but Kuwabara's look was still intimidating, though hardly intimidating enough to off-put Yusuke completely. Retreating for now but only to regroup and amend his plan of attack, Yusuke huffed and faced outward and slouched again.

"Why'd they got to serve breakfast so damn early…" Yusuke mumbled underneath his breath. "Stupid stomach… Should've stayed in bed 'til lunch but no."

Yusuke snorted in anger and looked to the side and away from Kuwabara, but he did not stay that way for long. Yusuke noticed Hiei approaching and drew his attention toward him.

"What do you want?" Yusuke growled as Hiei stopped in front of him.

"You already know what, " Hiei curtly replied in a cold voice and narrowed his eyes. "You set me up." Despite his anger, Hiei was reserving his bite quite well, to his own surprise. He supposed he was more tired than he thought. Or, perhaps, less awake.

"Tch," Yusuke said, looking away from Hiei and then back to him in an incriminating way. "You're out of your two-feet away from your ass mind. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar!" Hiei shouted. "You knew what you were doing when you sprayed me with paint!"

"Oh yea that…" Yusuke said awkwardly and reached back and scratched the back of his head, finally recognizing what Hiei was talking about. "Still got no freakin' idea why that's a big deal…" Yusuke said condescendingly, " …I see you got a new shirt."

Which was true. For all of Hiei's hopes of getting out of wearing a uniform, those plans were so easily broken. Hiei awoke at his usual around five o'clock time and laid awake in bed until he could no longer bear the uncomfortable fullness of his bladder and got up. He opened the door in the dark and stepped on the plastic covering sealing his new white dress shirt placed at the foot of the door. The school didn't even let him go a day without replacing his uniform.

"Let me put this in simple terms both of you can understand then," Hiei said, speaking slowly as if trying to hold down a rush of bitter bile in his throat. "I got caught and blamed for what you pair of morons did!"

Yusuke threw back his head and laughed. Even through the usual chatter of other students and cafeteria noises, Yusuke's laughter howled above it. Kuwabara did not laugh and remained facing the table. His face was deadpan and tipped downward. Hs focus seemed inward and contemplative. Not that Hiei noticed anything about Kuwabara, he was too riled by Yusuke finding his unfair situation hilariously entertaining to deign any attention toward the other boy.

Hiei continued when he felt that something other than curse words would come out of his mouth. "And if one of you doesn't confess by noon, I get stuck serving your punishment."

"Is that true? You're not yanking me, are you? Too freakin' perfect!" Yusuke laughed louder, this time drawing the uncertain, over the shoulder looks of nervous first-years nearby, and smacked Kuwabara, still not laughing, lightly in the shoulder. "How sweet is this? Damn, you should've been here our second year… We _really_ could've used you then!"

"I'm not your scapegoat! You're going to tell—"

"Like hell," Yusuke suddenly said and turned serious. "Why would we do a stupid thing like that? 'Cause of the _honor code_." Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Tch, you're just like Minamino's kind if you believe we'll follow that bull."

"I'm _not_ like Minamino." Hiei said, his voice low and rough. "I'm not gentle, I don't give a damn about anyone, and I'm not afraid of pounding your face in."

Yusuke grinned derisively and said, "I bet you got soft fists—"

Hiei swung his tight fist and aimed straight for the center of Yusuke's grinning face. He wanted to hit him. He wanted to hit him more than he wanted to hit that fool Suzuki, or Minamino, or possibly more than anyone else he had ever met in his fifteen years of living. He wanted to bloody his nose, make the bone impossible to mend and the blood flow impossible to stunt. He wanted to shut Yusuke up and leave him with a permanent reminder to employ better judgment when messing with him ever again. Mostly he just wanted Yusuke to quit comparing him to Minamino for some damn reason!

Hiei aimed for Yusuke's face but found his hand clutched in the boy's hand instead. Yusuke, apparently, had quick reflexes. Both boys' muscles tensed and quivered as Yusuke strained to hold back Hiei's stalled punch. Despite his struggling and deep grunts of effort, Yusuke smiled wryly, as if he was somehow enjoying it all.

"Not bad. Got some power. More than I expected," Yusuke said, breaking Hiei's punch and tossing his fist to the side. "Later will be fun then." Hiei quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "When we fight," Yusuke clarified, his grin breaking all logic by growing larger in anticipation.

"Fine," Hiei spat and stormed off.

Sure, Hiei did not persuade Yusuke and Kuwabara to confess to the paint prank, and it could be said that he hadn't even tried. Hiei knew that talking and persuasion would never work with Yusuke. Words had little meaning to those like Hiei and Yusuke. Words were nothing more than wasted breath and time used to bore and lecture. Words were always open to interpretation and intention and oftentimes required the use of feelings.

Not like fists. There was never a debate for what one meant to say with a punch. There were never miscommunications. Fists were direct, honest, and reliable. As far as Hiei saw, it was quicker and more satisfying to settle an argument or make amends with a fight than to stand around talking. So, sure, Hiei was going to have to suffer through detention with Iwamoto for the paint prank, but Hiei would get his reparations from Yusuke later on. In a way, if it meant a good fight afterward, being stuck with Iwamoto for however long was almost worth it. Almost. It was being stuck with Iwamoto after all…

 _Better than getting nothing out of it_ , Hiei grumbled, his temper no better, just worse from when he woke up, as he returned to the dorms. Because breakfast with Minamino would most assuredly result in another trip to Takenaka's office, and the headmaster would not show sympathy to Hiei for any bruising on the Academy's peach, even if Hiei explained that he had warned him many times before to leave him alone, which Minamino persistently refused to do so for his own stupid reasons, so everything really would be his fault, not Hiei's.

Not that the headmaster would see it that way. When it came to Minamino, students and faculty flocked to him and adored him, so no doubt if any harm came to him, the Academy would rise and protect him and the bully would be crucified for his crimes, figuratively via alienation, hostility, and hatred from the Academy, and most likely literally as well—probably in the center of the campus square for all to see. As it seemed, whatever Minamino wanted, he got and the Academy let him have it without ado.

And then, realizing what he had just done, Hiei cursed at himself for somehow allowing his thoughts to unexpectedly jump to Minamino with little to no prompt as to why.

-o-

Kuwabara turned away from the table and straddled the bench as he watched the angry runt storm away and stew in his hate again. It wasn't anything new—the same old same old, really, when one lived with Hiei Jaganshi. Kuwabara figured he only had one emotion, maybe two if one could count no emotions as an emotion, and the only feeling Hiei ever expressed was anger, which only came in three varieties: snarky, cold, and get the fuck out of my face.

The first and third forms were what Kuwabara was used to being on the jagged point of receiving. The second was the latest addition, discovered only last night and was something Kuwabara rather did not want to see again. Something about Hiei in a cold anger had the same tone of voice that reminded Kuwabara of convicted serial murderers explaining to the police how they would never find all the bodies or the pieces in time. Maybe his mind was overreacting, but hell, no one else had to live with the guy.

"So you're really gonna fight the shrimp?" Kuwabara murmured loud enough over the other students' chatter for Yusuke to hear.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Yusuke glanced quickly at Kuwabara's open plate and, taking advantage of Kuwabara's lowered guard, swiped two pancakes and stuffed both into his mouth. "'Course I am," he said, muffled through a thick pancake filter.

Kuwabara glared at Yusuke, balled a single fist at his side, and curled his upper lip in anger and disgust (mostly disgust as he watched Yusuke attempt to chew the large mass of pancake puffing out his cheeks and looking like some cartoon octopus sans eight tentacles). He was angry at Yusuke for stealing his food, yes, but Kuwabara knew that in this case what was done was done. Not like he wanted those pancakes now…

Kuwabara took a deep breath, relaxed his fist, and sighed. "I don't know." He turned his gaze out and fixed on where Hiei had been standing and scowling moments ago. "Doesn't seem safe. "

Yusuke swallowed the last portion of his stolen breakfast and flashed Kuwabara a patronizing grin. "You can fight too if you want, little girl."

"Shut up and listen, Urameshi," Kuwabara said gruffly and tossed a pointed stare as he slouched forward. "I live with the guy, no thanks to you, and I'm tellin' you that fightin' him might not be a good idea. He might snap on you. He's got this look in his eyes. I've seen it a couple, no, a lot of times…it's freaky." Kuwabara faintly shivered, not meaning to but doing it in any case.

"Oh, what about it?" Yusuke asked. Kuwabara wasn't sure if he was genuinely curious or just yanking him along for the hell of it like he usually was. Knowing Urameshi, it was probably an odd combination of both.

"Can't really describe it," Kuwabara said, shaking his head in emphasis that he really couldn't give a description even if he wanted. "It's just this _dark_ look he gets when nobody's around."

"But you're in the room—" Yusuke pointed out.

Kuwabara waved his hand dismissively in the air. "Really, Urameshi… You think he considers me a _person_? Most of the time I think he thinks I'm a walking hat stand or somethin'…" Kuwabara murmured another grumbling suggestion of what Hiei possibly considered him, but it wasn't loud enough for anyone to hear, which was for the best since there were first-years present.

"Anyway, I know his eyes are weird anyway," Kuwabara said and Yusuke dipped his head in agreement to that, "…but trust me, they get scarier. …The guy's messed up."

Yusuke snorted. "So I'm facing a constantly pissed off, evil-eyed midget with a possible set of screws loose…" Yusuke got up grinning bravely. "Sounds fun."

Kuwabara watched as Yusuke walked away in his usual cocksure swagger, head held up high, and grinning as he followed the same path Hiei took out the dining hall and probably back up to the dorms until lunch like usual. Or up to the rooftops for a smoke. Kuwabara knew Urameshi well but not well enough to predict his whereabouts one-hundred percent of the time, but he knew his habits. Sitting deeply hunched forward with his back to his cold breakfast, Kuwabara sat alone with his chin resting on top of his interlaced hands and thought.

 _It's not like he'll be fightin' me. Much as I don't like thinking this, Urameshi knows what I'll do or won't and that's_ all _he distinctly knows. With Hiei, it's like stepping into a snake pit not knowing which ones will bite and when, which ones are poisonous, and which ones like to constrict or spit. All Urameshi sees is someone raring to fight with him. He doesn't think about what might happen to him or whether facing somebody is a wise choice or not._

Kuwabara frowned. _Urameshi's never been a picky guy, especially about fights. Hiei's a small fry but something's not right about him, or anything about this really. I don't have a good feeling. Don't like this at all._

 _The idiot doesn't know what he's getting himself into…_ Kuwabara hung his head and softly groaned. … _Then again he usually never does._

-o-

Hiei knew going to lunch had been a bad idea but he had been starving after going all morning without breakfast. First, there was Minamino and his enduring attempt to engage Hiei in inane friendly conversation. Nothing new there, really, except that Hiei had noticed that none of Minamino's 'fan club' came around him if Minamino sat with Hiei. They gathered around him in swarms and clamored for seats, yes, if Minamino sat alone, but if he moved to sit with Hiei, no one followed.

No, they shot surprised looks mixed with concern and whispered heavily amongst their group, but none dared to approach, Hiei had observed. The end of the longtable farthest to the left always remained largely empty because that was where Hiei always sat. Save Minamino, no one sat within five feet of him and Hiei didn't mind that at all. Now if only Minamino would do the same and go away, Hiei could feel…less ill at ease, because Hiei was never happy.

The second reason going to lunch had been a poor choice was that Father Iwamoto had caught him just outside the dining hall walking in the direction of the dorms and had dragged him to class.

Which was the reason why Hiei was now unintentionally in Algebra class in his seat scowling and glaring the fires of hell at Iwamoto as the brute wrote out a long, difficult equation out on the whiteboard. The pompous bastard always started out the class this way with a complex equation he would solve and a lengthy lecture as to why he was better than you because of his superior intelligence made evident by his solving of the equation. As if that mattered to Hiei—Iwamoto could be an omniscient god and Hiei would still call him an idiotic jackass to his face.

"There," Iwamoto grunted airily and faced the class smiling smugly. "Behind me is an equation that none of you in your wildest dreams would be able to solve. Already your tiny minds cannot wrap around the entirety of this problem and are failing to comprehend even what little you could of the equation and even less of what you could not. I am not surprised." Iwamoto briefly chuckled darkly. "The levels of basic algebra that you all barely pass as is are not even the minimum requirements you would need to possess to solve this equation. This is mathematics far greater than fifteen-year-old _children_ could do, but I will show you how easily it can be solved."

And Iwamoto did. He filled up the rest of the board with his showed work and ended at the final edges of the whiteboard with the answer of y = 2.

And Hiei sat in his seat restraining his laughter within himself as his fellow classmates around him stared in perplexed wonder at Hiei and in fear of Iwamoto's coming wrath.

Iwamoto turned. He gazed across the class and relished in any stunned or resentfully admiring faces he found and then saw Hiei, and immediately gritted his teeth. Already, he was flushed in anger and flared his nostrils as he released a tight snort. "Jaganshi! What _exactly_ do you find _so_ _funny_?"

Hiei looked up at Iwamoto and smirked. "Just that I figured this school would hire teachers who could do their job, that's all."

Iwamoto stood at the head of the class seething and breathing heavily. In his eyes, Hiei could tell he wanted to charge at him but something, probably something Takenaka said to him last night, was stopping him.

"You have no right to talk to me like that, Jaganshi. Not with your latest scores. You're failing, you know that? Appropriate, I say, for failures." Iwamoto sneered. "You bear me resentment because you'll never be smart enough to solve problems like these, or do anything in your short, miserable life, except whatever gets you into prison."

Hiei mocked Iwamoto with more condescending laughter but not in response to anything the priest had said. Hiei flashed a superior smile and said dryly, "The answer is y = 6."

Iwamoto opened his mouth to yell violently at Hiei and no doubt call him scum or a stupid punk, or something else derogatory, but Hiei interrupted him before a word spewed from his mouth. "In Step 18, there's a plus four you overlooked or mindlessly forgot or you were blinded by your own over-inflated, egotistical sense of self-worth and overstated 'intelligence' to notice which makes your answer invalid and incorrect, you idiot."

"You listen to me, Jaganshi—" Iwamoto spat.

"If you think I'm wrong, rework the problem." Hiei shrugged his shoulders once. "I'm sure it won't take _you_ very long," Hiei added, wearing a sardonic smile as he spoke.

Iwamoto shut his mouth in a stubborn line and looked over his shoulder at the board. He stared at the exact place Hiei had said and glowered at the small, crammed plus four as blatant as a protruding nail in the equation. Also as obvious was Iwamoto's displeasure for making such a minor mistake and toward Hiei for readily pointing it out. But there was always the chance Hiei was wrong and that, Hiei figured, was probably what motivated Iwamoto to face the board and redo the problem again.

When it came to writing the answer, Iwamoto stood ridged, his hand shaking in rage and crushing the marker in his tight grasp. Iwamoto looked at Hiei. Iwamoto's eyes were bulging in surprise and burning in resentment. No one needed Iwamoto to write the answer down to know that Hiei was correct. Hiei locked eyes with Iwamoto and haughtily smirked.

"You little—" Iwamoto began when the intercom sounded.

"Father Iwamoto," said Father Takenaka's calm voice pouring into the tense classroom from a small brown speaker mounted above the whiteboard. "Please have Hiei Jaganshi come to my office immediately."

"Yes, sir," Iwamoto replied tersely and once Takenaka was gone, glared at Hiei and said, his voice clipped, "You're not deaf. Get out."

Hiei, still smirking, slipped out of his seat and walked up the aisle. Passing by Iwamoto, Hiei looked at him and threw him a sidelong leer in triumph. Iwamoto bared his teeth in reply and Hiei could have sworn Iwamoto faintly growled at him.

It was a shame Hiei had to go to Takenaka's office. He was enjoying exposing Iwamoto for the fool he was.

-o-

Iwamoto was glad to see Jaganshi leave. Without the little gloating punk, Iwamoto easily took control of his fourth-year class again and had them all working on their daily assignment by now. Iwamoto walked up and down each row and patrolled for the less diligent, the lazy, and the undisciplined.

Iwamoto knew he wasn't liked and had never cared if he was. He was no mentor to children. Iwamoto was in teaching for the respect. Teaching was a reputable occupation in Japan and to teach at a prestigious private school such as Sacred Heart Academy was a respect and admiration junkie's dream. Iwamoto enjoyed being asked what his job was and where, just to see the regard, even jealousy, in people's eyes—especially if they were teachers from lesser schools—when they learned he worked at one of the best of the best, because, by association, it meant that he was the best of the best.

Iwamoto gorged on the respect of his position but hated teaching. He didn't even have to do the teaching aspect of his position well. He simply had to keep his job, which because of Jaganshi last night was made all the less enjoyable since Takenaka placed him on watch and docked his pay for Iwamoto's use of 'excessive' force on a student. Iwamoto hated the students—his own and all the others. Sure, he could tolerate the good ones, the students who would garner more regard to the school and raise the Academy's image even higher, students like Kurama Minamino, for instance.

But the weeds and scum of the Academy had no right to grace the halls, and Iwamoto preferred expelling them all. The punks and slackers didn't deserve to be here, so Iwamoto saw no reason to be receptive to them, except to make it clear to them that they simply did not belong here. Iwamoto wanted no one to besmirch the good name of Sacred Heart, thus his own reputation, and punks like Jaganshi were exactly the problem ruining the Academy.

Iwamoto, still in his patrol of the students, walked by Jaganshi's empty seat and barely managed to hold back the urge to spit on it.

Truthfully with Jaganshi gone, there were few blemishes remaining in his class. One or two bad influences merely. For instance, Iwamoto caught the same boy day after day not focusing on his work and looking out the windows, despite the closed blinds preventing all view to the outside. Iwamoto grabbed the back of the boy's head with one of his strong, large hands, twisted his head to face forward, and bent it down to the paper. The boy winced and softly gasped in pain. Iwamoto could not help but smile in cruel satisfaction.

The boy was a _dreamer_ —Iwamoto considered dreamers as repugnant and damaging to a class as any arrogant, smart-mouth punk was, and he treated the offending weeds all the same. Students were supposed to stay quiet, listen to and obey their teachers, and do their work—anything beyond those strict parameters required swift, immediate correction utilizing harsh punishment if need be and there was always need.

His rounds completed, Iwamoto sat down at his desk. Normally he'd be continuing his vigilance from his chair surveying his class like a king over his servants—well, Iwamoto thought himself a king, but in truth, he watched his class like a tyrannical sweat-shop manager eyed his terrified, exhausted underage workforce. Iwamoto watched for cheating, slacking-off, or lack of vital signs, much like what a sweat-shop manager searched for.

But not today. Today, Iwamoto could not focus on his class. Not after what Jaganshi had done today. Iwamoto stared down at his desk and ground his teeth in irritation. It was impossible, was it? Hiei Jaganshi, currently holding the third lowest grade in class, could not secretly be proficient, even exceptional, in Iwamoto's field of study. It simply could not be. Because if that were true, according to the correctly solved equation behind Iwamoto, Jaganshi was capable of using mathematics Iwamoto finally mastered in his later years of graduate school.

And he could do it all in his head.

 _Damn it!_ _I will not stand for the little bastard thinking he's smarter than me. Because he isn't!_ Iwamoto rose from his chair and began erasing the board. _He had to have been cheating, there's no other way. I say that Hiei Jaganshi is not capable of such intelligence!_

Iwamoto cleared the whiteboard of all but the day's assignment pages and made another march through the rows of desks. By the time Iwamoto was calm and returned to his desk, Hiei Jaganshi had returned. The sullen boy made no eye contact as he passed by Iwamoto's desk. Jaganshi slid back into his seat, briefly glanced up at the board for the page numbers, and opened his textbook and started his assignment without a word or any real emotion on his face.

His lack of emotion was what disconcerted Iwamoto the most.

The boy had just come back from Takenaka's office. The reason had been no doubt about the vandalizing last night—Takenaka had certainly not pulled him briefly out of class to merely have tea and chat about the pleasant weather with the boy. Something was wrong. Iwamoto knew it when students were trying to play him for a fool and he could see that someone, Jaganshi or maybe even Takenaka, was trying to do just that.

 _Something happened…_ Iwamoto was certain as he watched Hiei as he continued his work. _If the situation had remained as I figured it would go, the boy would be angry, but he's not. He should be angry._

Iwamoto frowned deeply once he realized what Hiei's lack of emotion most probably meant. _And of course since I've got Takenaka hovering over me, I can't properly discipline the boy the way he deserves when he is not under my responsibility._

 _But I can if he is_ , Iwamoto grinned maliciously as he plotted. _And that can easily be arranged._

-o-

The situation concerning last night's paint prank had taken a very peculiar turn of events, a turn that neither displeased Hiei nor he enjoyed hearing. Part of him was okay with learning that someone had confessed to the graffiti because it proved that Hiei was innocent and that he did not have to spend a detention with Iwamoto for a transgression he did not commit.

Another part of him, however, was disappointed because it meant he no longer had a concrete reason to fight Yusuke now. Sure, he could still fight Yusuke without a reason, and Yusuke would probably not object to that, but now the fight would seem petty, when it once was a fight to gain amends. Though Hiei could probably still enjoy the fight, it wouldn't be the same satisfaction and thus, wasn't as appealing.

So Hiei poured himself into quickly completing his Algebra assignment because the mind-numbing work was a fair enough distraction to steer his thoughts away from anything paint prank or fighting Yusuke-related.

Without seeing the surly priest doing so, Hiei noticed Iwamoto giving him an evaluating stare as if he was trying to read his thoughts or discover something hidden in his expression. The bastard could go on trying to figure whatever he was searching for all he wanted, but he could definitely stop staring at Hiei to do so.

Fifteen minutes left in class, Hiei finally finished the last stupid equation and loudly shut his textbook. He garnered a few jumps and many short glances from the class, but calm quickly resettled the class. To plan for when he completed his assignment, Hiei removed his school-issued briefcase from the holder on the side of his desk, pulled out the library's copy of _Frankenstein,_ and continued reading.

"Jaganshi…" Iwamoto asked, uncharacteristically calm from his desk. "What are you doing?"

"Reading," Hiei curtly replied.

The creases in Iwamoto's frown deepened but the priest did not raise his voice. "And just what are you reading?"

"A new invention that's been around for the past hundred plus years," Hiei said matter-of-factly from behind the leather-bound hardback. "It's called a book."

Iwamoto rose from his chair to his feet. Despite Iwamoto's attempt at a calm exterior, Hiei easily grated on the priest's nerves and exposed that composed farce for the shallow try that it was. But Iwamoto, breathing heavily through his nose in an effort to stay calm and in control, remained standing at his desk and placed his hands behind his back.

"Jaganshi…" Iwamoto, in his rising annoyance, struggled to speak his name evenly. It sounded like Iwamoto was talking with his teeth clenched and biting into a cut of bitter-tasting wood. "…Is this a library?"

"No."

"Is this a literature class?"

"No."

"Then why are you reading a book in my Algebra class?" Iwamoto commanded to know, his lip curling in disgust. Whether it was at Hiei for having leisure time during his class or toward books themselves, Hiei did not know or cared. What did annoy Hiei was that he was reading a book and Iwamoto was not following the rule and leaving him alone. When Hiei read, people left him alone. They did not yell at him or question him. They left him alone. As Hiei should have expected, however, Iwamoto did not.

Without lowering his book, Hiei made it clear in his voice as to how stupid he thought Iwamoto's question was. "Because I'm done."

Iwamoto bent down, opened the bottom drawer of his desk, and tossed a stapled stack of pages on his desk. "Your extra homework assignment, Jaganshi. One hundred and twenty-five problems, due on my desk tomorrow. Come pick it up."

Hiei snorted once derisively and went back to reading.

"Pick it up, Jaganshi!" Iwamoto shouted, making most of the class cringe and shrink into their seats in fear. They acted as if it were them Iwamoto was violently addressing.

Hiei remained in his seat.

"You have work to begin, Jaganshi," Iwamoto ordered, a warning in his tone.

Hiei lowered his book enough to show Iwamoto his glowering eyes. "It's _homework_. I'll do it later," he said definitively and returned to his book.

Hearing Iwamoto stomping toward his desk, Hiei huffed and rolled his eyes incredulously. Iwamoto snapped the book out of Hiei's hands and chucked it to the back of the classroom. Over his shoulder, Hiei watched the book's passage through the air and heard the book clang against one of the tall standing metal file cabinets and bang against the dull wooden floor. Hiei turned back to face Iwamoto with a deep scowl on his face. Iwamoto, wearing his own dark mask, slammed the extra homework pages on Hiei's desk and bent close into Hiei's face.

"Get to work," Iwamoto murmured menacingly through gritted teeth. He left and walked back toward his desk before Hiei could string a smart reply or gather enough spit to launch at his face.

As if that scared Hiei. Around him, his classmates were wide-eyed and trembling, both stunned that Hiei could stand up to Iwamoto and live and fearing that any moment Iwamoto could turn his rage on any one of them if he couldn't vent on Hiei. He was surrounded by timid little rabbits, Hiei decided. He hated rabbits.

Hiei scowled at his homework on his desk and looked back at the library's book laying on the floor. He wanted his book back. Hiei heard Iwamoto sit at his desk. _The bastard better pray the book is still in good condition_ , he thought. Books, as one of the few things Hiei respected, were always treated properly in Hiei's care. Hiei had his rules about book handling and none of those rules stated anything about lobbing it haphazardly across a room. If one of the pages folded or the spine broke, Iwamoto would suffer.

Not giving a damn what Iwamoto would yell, Hiei slid out of his seat and walked to the back of the classroom.

Almost immediately, Iwamoto shouted, "Jaganshi, don't you _dare_ pick up that book!"

Hiei ignored him and continued walking.

"Pick up that book and you'll spend the afternoon in detention!" Iwamoto threatened.

Hiei picked up the book.

Iwamoto met Hiei back at his desk. The brute was smiling smugly as he slapped a detention slip on Hiei's desk. Hiei was ignoring both the slip and Iwamoto and inspected his library book for damages. So far, and to Iwamoto's safety, he had seen none.

"I expect you to arrive no later than 2:45 p.m," Iwamoto in his arrogant, croaking voice informed. "If you are late, I will come find you and your punishment then will be far more severe. …Your homework is still due tomorrow." Iwamoto then smiled spitefully. "Proud of yourself now, Jaganshi?"

Iwamoto had not cared or wanted to see Hiei's response and was already heading back to his desk as Hiei scowled. Now not only was Hiei _not_ going to get to fight Yusuke the way he wanted, he ended up getting stuck in detention with Iwamoto anyway. So far, the only good thing to happen relating to the paint prank was Hiei proving his innocent to Father Takenaka, and Hiei didn't give a damn if the headmaster knew that or thought of him well in the first place.

The turn of events had soured indeed.

-o-

The things Hiei had come to expect for his detention with Iwamoto were as followed: First, that he would be alone. Second, that Iwamoto would not quit gloating from the moment his detention began. And third, that pain would somehow be involved.

Not one of those expectations were true. Or at least, weren't _entirely_ true. Or made true yet, as in the case of the threat of pain. Hiei knew that was always a plausibility with Iwamoto at any given time.

Hiei stood in between Yusuke and Kuwabara as they faced the back wall of the gymnasium and scrubbed the black spray paint graffiti with thick, stiff brushes that refused to saturate no matter how many times they dropped them into the buckets of soapy water beside each of them. The temperature was warm enough and the sun beamed down on them so Kuwabara and Yusuke removed their shirts, but Hiei kept his on, not caring how wet and clingy it was becoming. Hiei wasn't about to go shirtless and invite _any_ possibility of being touched, tapped, prodded, poked, or come in any contact whatsoever with another person.

Sure, he didn't care for how his shirt was binding to him but it was an unpleasant sensation Hiei could tolerate more so than the touch of another person. And, as Hiei would discover later, two clean white dress shirts were being delivered to his doorstep anyway, so it didn't matter now if the front of Hiei's shirt was soaked, crumpled, and pressed against his skin.

And so the work song of saturate, scrub, and repeat continued on at a slow pace. The cleanup was boring, muscle-tiring work made all the worse for Hiei, since he had nothing to do with paint prank last night. _If I knew I would end up removing it anyway,_ Hiei complained, _I would have participated in the stupidity last night. Hn, why not? I got blamed for it, vindicated, then stuck cleaning it anyway. Might as well have had some fun and actually_ done _some of it._

But Iwamoto still believed Hiei had a part in last night's prank—Hiei knew this because the bastard flat out told him—and had assigned Hiei to serve on the removal crew for his detention as well. Iwamoto sat behind them supervising their progress from the comfort of a metal folding chair. Occasionally, he got up, hovered over them, and berated them on their shoddy, dawdling work, but mostly sat and snapped snarky insults from his seat.

"Damn it. We're gonna be here all night," Yusuke said, low enough so that Iwamoto wouldn't hear, and chucked his brush into his assigned bucket of water, making a large splash and forcing Hiei move briefly closer to Kuwabara to evade it. Not liking Kuwabara's grimace as he invaded his personal space or having to draw closer to the oaf in the first place, Hiei scowled. For both their lucks, their proximity was only for a second or two.

"I'm not even supposed to be here," Hiei murmured as he gratefully returned to his place in the lineup. "All this is you two idiots' faults."

"We know…" Yusuke grumbled bitterly. "You haven't quit bitching about that since we started."

"I have the right to be  _pissed_ then, don't you think?" Hiei hissed back.

"Shut up, you two, and scrub harder," Kuwabara said, tossing a guarded glance over his shoulder and added with a whisper, "Iwamoto's watching."

Yusuke begrudgingly bent down and picked up his brush out of the bucket. "Iwamoto can go piss in the Communion wine—OW!"

Though he had been speaking in a low voice, Yusuke suddenly yelped in pain and grabbed the back of his head. Iwamoto stood behind him, rolling his newspaper tightly back into the perfect club. Yusuke glared at Kuwabara as the taller punk shrugged his shoulders and gave Yusuke a look that read: _I told you so_.

"Less talking, more scrubbing," Iwamoto ordered. He gave both Hiei and Kuwabara warning glares and a stiff wag of his paper weapon and went back to his seat.

Grimacing as he drew in air though his teeth, Yusuke rubbed the back of his head and quietly cursed. "Damn that hurt." Yusuke fixed his eyes sharply on Hiei. "…I'm gonna kick your ass later, Hiei, for telling."

"I didn't snitch," Hiei said.

"Bullshit, Hiei, I know you did," Yusuke said. "If it wasn't you, then who else? Kuwabara and I wouldn't snitch on ourselves, so who?"

"I did," Kuwabara said unexpectedly.

Yusuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he wore a stunned look that would have been the same if he had heard Kuwabara say that Iwamoto was the nicest man in the world. "What? You got to be kidding me?" Yusuke said, nearly shouting, in disbelief. "I didn't know you'd be a freakin' honor code-type.  Why don't you just join Hiei and sit with Minamino?"

Hiei scowled fiercely and murmured coldly, "I don't—"

"Yes, yes, we _know_ ," Kuwabara interrupted and waved dismissively at Hiei, essentially signaling that they didn't need that brought up _again_ and weren't going to get on that now. Kuwabara kept the argument on course and between himself and Yusuke, even if all their yelling was forced to remain at whispering tones.

"I'll have you know, Urameshi, that I do have a code. It's not _the_ honor code, but there's honor to it, which is more than I can say about you," Kuwabara said gruffly, wanting to voice his anger at a proper level but couldn't.

Yusuke rolled his eyes derisively. "Lay off, Mr. Morals. I get enough lecturing from everybody else at this school. I don't need your one cent sense butting in too."

"One cent?" Hiei frowned. "Half a cent is more like it."

Kuwabara cast Hiei an insulted glare that would have immediately silenced anyone else, but had no effect on Hiei. "Shut up, runt. Big boys are talking right now." Kuwabara started to speak to Yusuke but looked back at Hiei and suddenly smirked proudly. "See this?" Kuwabara raised a hand a foot and a half above Hiei. "You must be this tall to argue."

Hiei snorted condescendingly and said something offensive in response back but no one heard him over Yusuke's raised vehement whispering, which at his tone was less whispering and more talking angrily in a hushed voice. Hiei had heard the director whispering in the same way as she berated a worker while a very young Hiei slept, or was supposed to be asleep, among the other sleeping children one night. He couldn't remember why she was angry but he never forgot the sound of her quiet voice that night.

"Why'd you do it then? Why'd you snitch?" Yusuke demanded to know. If they had been wearing their shirts, Yusuke would have certainly grabbed Kuwabara by the collar and dragged him down and met him eye to eye, but they were not, so he couldn't.

"I got my reasons, Urameshi, and that's all you need to know." Kuwabara threw Yusuke a pointed stare and left the matter at that.

"I better see lips shut and brushes moving in the next ten seconds, or I'll hold both your heads in a bucket of water and see if you learn compliance that way," Iwamoto growled from his chair and from behind the printed pages of the day's newspaper.

"Who's that jackass think he is?" Yusuke scoffed, putting some muscle in his scrubbing as if it was Iwamoto's face he was gradually removing and not spray paint.

"He can punish us, yea," Kuwabara said, bending down to wet his brush, "but he can't kill us."

"Sure won't stop him from trying." Yusuke smirked and Kuwabara smiled back as they went back to scrubbing the gym wall and commiserated on their mutual hatred toward crappy, water-resistant brushes. And then, just then, and after all the arguing, they seemed to be friends again. Didn't make a damn sense to Hiei, none of it did.

The three fell back into the work rhythm with moments of light conversation between the trio consisting mostly of insults behind Iwamoto's back and occasionally, it was just Yusuke and Hiei teaming up to upset Kuwabara. Well, at least, Yusuke was just teasing…most of the time. And nothing Hiei said was ever in jest.

Hiei didn't know what time it was exactly or how long they had been scrubbing the back wall of the gym, though if the amount of graffiti left was any indication they still had a long time yet out here, but time did seem to move quicker than Hiei expected, especially since he spent most of the time trying not to smirk or seem like he was having a good time. Hiei was not enjoying his detention with Yusuke and he certainly was not begrudgingly beginning to like Yusuke even in the least, but for right now, Yusuke was…tolerable, at least until he tried comparing Hiei to Minamino again.

Which was the very next thing that came out of Yusuke's mouth and Hiei firmly rediscovered his misanthropy.

So it turned out that the only possible good aspect of serving this detention was missing Minamino's class and getting a free afternoon without him.

Hiei, it seemed, thought too soon.

He saw Minamino walk out from the left side and nearly pitched his brush at him. _Just one day. Can't I have just one day not seeing him?_ Hiei growled in his thoughts as he watched Minamino step lightly across the manicured grass over to where Iwamoto sat. Minamino was carrying his school-issued briefcase in his right hand and clutched in his left a manila folder to his chest. It may have just been Hiei's tired eyes imagining things, but out in the natural sunlight, Minamino seemed paler than what Hiei remembered seeing under the Academy's florescent lights. He wasn't sickly looking, no far from that, just in need of a little color.

 _Why do I care?_ Hiei grumbled, still without taking his eyes off Minamino. _I wish he'd disappear._

"Father Iwamoto, excuse me," Minamino said, offering a short polite bow to the priest.

Iwamoto, sitting wide with his arms crossed over his chest, acknowledged Minamino's presence with a rough grunt and half a glance at him to his left.

"Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei are students in my tutorial class and they did not attend today's session for ongoing reasons, I see… so, if I may, these are their missed assignments." Minamino smiled graciously and offered the thin folder. Bitterly, Iwamoto took it. It was clear he did not want to but saw no other course but to accept them on the boys' behalf since Kurama had been so polite about it.

Minamino held his smile and tipped his head courteously. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, well…" Iwamoto, quite obviously flattered by Minamino's show of respect toward him, smiled and said almost complimentary (well, as complimentary as Iwamoto got) toward the boy. "It is quite a shame to learn a good boy like you is stuck wasting time mucking among the dregs of filth. One of the faults of the tutorial program, if I say so myself."

"I suppose that is one way of seeing things, sir," Kurama simply said. His answer was more open to interpretation than Iwamoto appeared to realize or in his charmed state cared to think much about.

"Sir, may I address them?" Minamino asked, indicating Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei with a slight tip of his head. Iwamoto lazily flicked his hand in signal that Kurama could.

Minamino stepped forward and smiled warmly at the three of them in greeting. Yusuke remained facing and scrubbing the wall vigorously. Hiei was still turned and looking at Minamino as he idly pushed his brush across the wall. Kuwabara was the only one of the three boys to put down his brush and turned to actively listen.

"As you are aware, our class is not a large one, " Minamino began, speaking in his teacher's voice, which Hiei had come to differentiate between it and his normal speech by the sense of responsibility he placed in his teacher's voice. Outside of the classroom, Minamino still remained formal and polite in his speech but—and Hiei noticed this during Minamino's many attempts to engage Hiei in conversation at mealtimes—he didn't come across as needing to be in charge, as the role of being a teacher would require, and instead had spoke to Hiei as few rarely did: as an equal.

But it was still annoying that Minamino insisted on always sitting with him and talking to him.

During his reflection, Hiei barely remembered that Minamino was still present and speaking at the moment.

"Your absences today required a slight change of the lesson plan, though today remained a review for tomorrow's test. Your assignment is one of a few review sheets I've created for just this sort of situation. In the future, however, please be mindful of your fellow classmates and for your own benefit as well. We need everyone in attendance. Thank you." Minamino nodded to the three boys in lieu of the short polite bow he normally finished his classroom discourses with.

And then, Minamino smoothed the directive tone out of his voice and expression and offered cordially, smiling, "If you need help with your assignment or with studying for the test, I will be in the library from seven-thirty to nine tonight. Feel free to come by."

Minamino thanked the boys for listening and gave a short bow indicating he was done with his pointless address and to excuse himself. As Minamino stepped to leave, Iwamoto called his name. Minamino paused and turned back to face the priest.

"Minamino, deliver your lesson plans for next week at four on Friday," Iwamoto ordered as he smiled conceitedly. "We'll hold your first assessment then as well, though I'm certain _you'll_ do well."

"Yes, sir," Minamino bowed. "I will have them ready before then." Waiting for a moment to see if the priest had anything else to ask of him, Minamino left, once he was certain Iwamoto was finished. And Hiei was fine with Minamino gone. He could finally let the aggravated tension he felt in his chest whenever Minamino was near him dissipate.

But with Minamino gone, Iwamoto soured. "What are you scum standing around gawking? Get back to work!"

With the threat of pain and a wall of graffiti looming before them, the three boys soaked their brushes and focused back on the vandalized gym wall.

"Minamino's a pain," Yusuke muttered. In his tone, the way he called Minamino a 'pain' came out like horrendous curse, and because of his tone, Hiei looked up at Yusuke and quirked an eyebrow.

 _Minamino's a pain_.

That was something he and Yusuke could definitely agree upon.


	5. Chapter 5

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I do not own YYH.

-o-

Chapter Five: Trees, Track Tryouts, and Too Much Kurama

-o-

For Kurama, preparations in the morning consisted of a long series of excusing himself, as Kurama and Kaitou did, tiredly muttering the phrase to the other each time as one slid around the other to cross the tiny stretch of walking space between their beds within their dorm room. Only propriety kept the boys murmuring the phrase, though after some time, neither really heard the other. Excusing oneself was proper to do so and only that—the words having lost all meaning and fallen into banality so very long ago.

Kurama left the room, showered, primped a bit in front of the bathroom mirror, and came back to find the room devoid of its fellow occupant.

Another consistent aspect of his morning prep was getting dressed in an empty room. Kurama knew of many other roommates who were completely fine with changing in front of one another—in fact it was the norm. And as far as Kurama understood, boys were conditioned to the practice, if the group dress and undress in the gym locker rooms were any proof of that. But Kaitou had proposed the agreement on their first day as roommates and Kurama had agreed that they would change in their room at separate times. It was a matter of maintaining both propriety and privacy, which both boys held in high regard and wielded against the other in order to keep their forced association at its impersonal level.

His lower half already clothed, Kurama stood buttoning up his dress shirt, looked at the back of his hands, and noticed for the first time a minuscule difference in his skin tone. At first, Kurama brushed his paleness off as the usual blanching of the skin people underwent in winter but it had been spring for nearly a month and a half now. Kurama then realized and wondered: When was the last time he had been outside?

Kurama couldn't remember. Sure, he walked outside from building to building and yesterday he had delivered the boys' missed assignments, but as for going outside with the intent of enjoying the pleasant weather and sitting in the sun, he hadn't and his lack of recent sun exposure showed.

Kurama had been too busy, what with his own academics, the many and demanding pressures from and preparations for his tutorial class, his plant taxonomy work for Father Namame, and his own special project keeping him indoors and under the artificial florescent lights, that stepping outside for a few minutes was too great an indulgence to make with his rigid schedule. In fact, the only time in the day he ever allowed himself to relax, unwind, and be a little more human than the golden boy everyone thought he was was at meals when he sat with Hiei and tried talking to the standoffish boy.

Kurama lost his straight-faced expression and smiled.

Hiei Jaganshi was stubborn, perplexing, and often contradictory. On his third day at the Academy, he had told Kurama that he refused to talk to him and then spent a bit of time saying that he was not going to talk to him, that he did not _want_ to talk to him, that he did not understand why Kurama was so insistent on talking to him and trying to make him talk, and since he was _not_ going to talk to him, that Kurama should leave him the hell alone already _or else_.

It took a measure of self-restraint for Kurama, who had merely smiled in amusement throughout Hiei's rant and laughed inwardly to himself, not to point out the obvious inconsistency his little collective speech created against his previous statement. So far, from the moment Kurama met the boy and secretly started his game of wills with him, Hiei had proven to be and continued to be…very interesting.

But Kurama's thoughts were getting off the point and he quickly circled back on the original topic before his mind could divulge deeper into his observations, analysis, and views on one Hiei Jaganshi.

Kurama turned and faced his bed.

 _Perhaps I can persuade Father Namame for time in the greenhouse…_ Kurama considered as he picked up his tie from its resting place on his pillow and started putting it on. He had to find some time to be outside, even if he had to add it purposively into his schedule. Thing was Kurama did not know if he could handle another task in his already delicately-balanced schedule…

It looked like simply doing his studying and homework outside was the best solution he could offer himself. Kurama picked up his school briefcase on his bed, unbuckled it, and removed the plain black leather day planner, commonly referred to in taunt as 'his diary' by Yusuke Urameshi, from inside.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Kurama pulled the small gold snap free and opened his planner to the list near the beginning and added 'Study and do work outside' to the fifteen other items on a list of things he should do more often. Midway through writing, Kurama slipped a glance out the window and frowned at the sight of spring rain steadily pouring down and spitting against the glass. It would figure that the one day Kurama intentionally decided to go outside, it would be dark and stormy, and after nearly a week of perfectly pleasant sunny weather too.

 _I cannot be displeased_ , Kurama reasoned. _The rain is good for the plants._

Kurama flipped the planner to the month of April and looked at his events for the day. Being only the second week of school, Kurama's schedule was not as strenuous or full as it soon would be. He had only one test today, which was essentially a review of everything he had learned in that subject in the previous year. He also had to give his tutorial class their first test today covering their study of the scientific method and various term definitions. It wasn't a difficult test and was, quite honestly, the easiest test he would make for them all year. As long as they put forth the smallest effort into studying the lesson, Kurama was assured they would all pass with high marks.

Kurama continued down the list and began to softly frown.

He was not looking forward to his assessment today at four o'clock with Father Iwamoto, his assigned faculty advisor in the tutorial program. Not that he was nervous about failing his assessment, not at all—Kurama, as the majority of the Academy's student body did, simply disliked being in the same room with the arrogant priest and having to be subjected to listening to him and his croaking voice. The worst part of Kurama's interaction with Iwamoto was that because Iwamoto was a teacher and one Kurama had to work with on a repeated basis, Kurama had to present the foul man a friendly smile and a show of respect Iwamoto did not deserve and never would.

 _Put up with it_ , Kurama told himself. _The ends justify the means._ And that settled all his mind's grumbling and aversions. Anything about the fronts he presented that displeased him could easily be ignored and put aside with a little thought or hushed murmuring of that phrase.

Kurama looked back down at his planner. There were a few other minor notes on today's date, such as to write his mother a letter and to substitute for a girl's place for half an hour in the library. Kurama could write the letter while at the circulation desk and be finished with both in the allotted half an hour. Anytime he could multitask meant less strain on himself later on. His mother was always reminding him to not to do too much or take on what he couldn't handle. She always worried about him collapsing but Kurama was aware of his limits. He pushed himself dangerously close to those limits, sometimes, yes, but he hadn't fallen yet and did not plan on it.

There was a light rap on the door and from the other side, Kaitou's measured but muffled voice asked, "Are you _decent_ yet?"

Kurama stood up, walked over, and opened the door. Kaitou stared back at him with his small eyes narrowed and a perturbed expression on his face. He murmured something in complaint about standing in the hallway and waiting for the past five minutes and needing to get his things for class.

"Sorry for the delay," Kurama said, offering a mild, placating smile. "I was going over my schedule for the day and became distracted."

"Must be nice…" Kaitou smoothly sneered as he stepped past Kurama without excusing himself. "Having the world on a string, making everyone fall to your wants and needs and to hell with what others may need to do."

Overlooking the spite in the barb, Kurama gave a polite laugh and smiled. "It was simply a minor oversight, Kaitou, nothing more and was certainly not done in the unkindness you imply that I meant to do it in. I did not mean to leave you out there or make you late for class, which I can see from my watch that you still have forty-five minutes to get to, but I apologize for my inconsiderate slipup anyway and hope that you will forgive me."

"Fine, Minamino," Kaitou replied as he muttered a belated excuse for himself and sat down on his bed. He picked up his school briefcase and started arranging his things and papers for the day.

Kurama, still holding and looking again at his open planner, walked back toward his bed and quickly scanned today's date for any other plans he may have written. Seeing nothing else, he let his sight slip down to tomorrow's tasks and events. Kurama stopped in front of his bed, his expression and manner frozen and impassive, and gazed vacantly at the single entry in tomorrow's box:

_Day of Silence._

It happened every year. It was in its eighth year of happening, in fact, and it always occurred on the same day and only lasted for that day. Every year, for the past eight years, on the same day, Kurama Minamino lost his voice.

It was inexplicable. His mother had had him checked out many times in the past since it started and his pediatrician and a countless string of doctors had found nothing medically wrong with him. He was simply a healthy boy who lost his ability to speak one day of the year. It was a mystery that would not be solved.

Or maybe it was already.

Whether his mother had figured out why he lost his voice every year on the twenty-eighth day of April, Kurama neither knew nor wanted to bring up the subject to her, but he somehow had a feeling that his mother had already made the connection and only did not ask Kurama out of respect and to not stir up the pain the talk would surely rouse in them both. As for Kurama, being the bright boy that he was, he had realized straight off the first year he had lost his voice that his condition and its date correlated with the day he—

The memory cut him.

"Minamino?" Kaitou asked, snapping Kurama almost immediately from his sinking thoughts and back into reality. Kurama, his head now bowed so it seemed, angled his gaze briefly over to where Kaitou sat and then looked away. Kaitou wore a perplexed look on his face and spoke with some minor degree of concern, a rarity toward Kurama. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Kurama straight away replied as he lightly swayed back and forth where he stood. Kurama raised a hand to his face and rubbed it across his eyes. He felt a little dizzy and noticed again how pale he was, only this time he knew it was not from a simple lack of sunlight. "…I'm fine, Kaitou," he repeated.

"Sure you're not coming down with something?" Kaitou asked with more levelness in his voice and an underlining tone of ' _I better not catch what you're getting'_ warning in his words. The show of concern from Kaitou was starting to worry Kurama anyway. He was glad his roommate was already sounding more like himself again.

"No, Kaitou, I am not," Kurama said, sounding and feeling stronger. At least he knew he was on his feet and in his dorm room and the world around him was not moving anymore. "It was nothing."

"You're lying, Minamino," Kaitou said sternly and rose from his seat and stood beside Kurama. "I've been your roommate for three years now and I have _never_ seen you act like that before. It's not like you to be so… _dreamy_." Kaitou grimaced in his pause and spat out the word 'dreamy' like it was a piece of shell left in his morning eggs.

"I was not dreaming…" Kurama said, equally stern, and narrowed his eyes sharply at the floor. _More like slipping into a nightmare_ , he thought before he gathered it and the rest of his thoughts and feelings he had had seconds ago and buried them in their rightful place in his mind.

Kurama faced Kaitou calmly with a small but happy smile on his face. "Thank you for your concern, Kaitou," he said graciously and gave a gentle, short bow. "I assure you it was nothing. It's best you forget that it ever happened."

Picking up his day planner, which he had apparently dropped during his little 'dreamy' spell, Kurama sat on the edge of his bed and put away the closed planner back into his school briefcase. Kurama finished getting ready as he normally did, which wasn't much—all that was left to put on were his shoes.

Finished, he stood, faced Kaitou once more, and wore his usual smile. "Have a good day, Kaitou," he said, school briefcase in his left hand and a closed umbrella in his right, and excused himself from the room with another short bow.

Kurama held his smile down the hall, in case any other students were around and, it being early morning, of course there were other students filing into the hallway and in the stairwell. Many classmates smiled back at him and some greeted him with a kind word, a wave, or at the least a friendly nod to which he responded back to each of them with his own gentle, acknowledging tip of the head.

This morning's incident had troubled Kurama, but he had somewhat expected something like it to occur, being tomorrow was his day of silence. Aside from the day itself, the eve before always incited…unpleasant memories to mind. His only regret was Kaitou being there to see him in such a state when the biggest unpleasant memory decided to rise and reacquaint itself with Kurama's psyche.

But what was done was done. All Kurama could hope for was Kaitou putting the incident behind him and letting it rest. It was Kurama's business, after all, and they had an agreement to stay out of one another's business.

But even if he didn't, Kurama would find ways to circumvent and subvert Kaitou's questioning until he learned or reasoned to stop. As well meaning or not as Kaitou's prying would be, Kurama's business was his own and he intended on keeping it that way.

Opening his umbrella outside, Kurama stepped out the metal front doors and continued down the streetlamp-lit concrete sideway, listening to the cold rain pitter-patter against his umbrella and peering up occasionally at the stormy gray dawn.

Kurama was glad he was off to breakfast and looked forward to relaxing and putting aside the lingering awkwardness of this morning's incident as he talked or at least did something that technically defined as talking with the mulish, unfriendly, but very interesting Hiei Jaganshi.

-o-

Minamino put on his shoes, picked up his briefcase and his umbrella, and wished Kaitou a good day just as he always did and left, as if it were any other morning and not the morning where the oddest, most disturbing incident in their three years as roommates had occurred.

Kaitou sat on his bed, rerunning the recent memory fresh through his mind and searching for any sign or detail he might have overlooked. Minamino had stood a little less than two feet from the door, walked lightly over, and paused before his bed. There, he stood still looking at the entries, Kaitou presumed, and then dropped his day planner and paled. At that point, Kaitou had directed his focus completely on him and peered up at Minamino's face. A depressed, recently-fired salaryman about to off himself via a leap of faith in a subway tunnel had more cheer in his life than what Kaitou saw in Minamino's eyes and expression just then.

… _I assure you it was nothing_ , Minamino had said.

_Liar._

Kaitou freely rolled his eyes since Minamino was not present and Kaitou did not have to play out a show of chilled tolerance toward the boy and scoffed. _You expect me to believe that, Minamino? Really, you take me to be that thick? Or is that just how you assume the rest of the world is? No one can match wits with the great Kurama Minamino, is that how it is? We're all idiots compared to you, right?_

Kaitou frowned.

_I am no idiot._

Kaitou knew what he had seen and it had not been nothing. Something in Minamino's planner had stricken him into such a state. Kaitou coolly narrowed his eyes and continued contemplating the incident. There were things Kaitou did not know about Minamino and never would, partly because Kaitou did not want to be that personal with Minamino and also because Minamino would never divulge himself like that to Kaitou. They were not friends and neither trusted the other beyond the agreed parameters of their bargains and social contract. But there were things Kaitou, for his own curiosity, would like to understand about Minamino. Things like how in the hell he balanced all the thousand and one things he did each year, year after year, without collapsing or suffering a mental breakdown.

A flash of realization hit Kaitou.

 _Perhaps, that is it_ , Kaitou considered. _Minamino has grasped his limits, everything is amassing atop of him, and he cannot bear the weight any longer. This does not surprise me. The demands of the tutorial program alone are enough to occupy one's time but with the way Minamino runs around, always busy, always working, something like this was bound to happen. But it's so early in the new school year? Minamino will break soon then. His grades will slip and I will take his place._

Kaitou hung his head, stared hard at nothing particularly in front of him, and frowned once more, this time in displeasure and disgust.

Damn you _, Kurama Minamino!_

_This is not how I wanted things to be! I want to beat him, yes, but in a true mind to mind challenge, not by a technicality. It means nothing if I score higher than him simply because his other obligations overtaxed him and his academics suffered as a result._

… _I'm going to have to keep an eye on Minamino then_ , Kaitou reluctantly admitted to himself. _And make sure he doesn't lay himself too generously on the Academy's cross._

 _It's best you forget that it ever happened_ , Minamino had advised.

 _As if I could do that_ , Kaitou scoffed, snorted derisively, and began putting his papers away into his school briefcase. His first period class was starting soon.

-o-

If there was anything Hiei could admire about Minamino, which he did not and would never, it was his tenacity. It was Friday, Hiei's fifth day at the Academy and the end of his first school week here, and for yet another morning Minamino had sat down with him at breakfast and persevered in his futile attempt at making conversation.

It appeared that no matter how fiercely he glared and he glared often, how often he threatened him, told him to leave him alone, or said nothing while the boy went on talking, essentially to himself, Minamino stayed steadfast, ignoring or letting everything Hiei threw to deter him away pass by him undisturbed. One thing Hiei had come to conclude about Minamino was that, if he was not extraordinarily self-composed, Minamino had to be incredibly dumb then, even with his perfect top score in the whole damn Academy proclaiming otherwise. Minamino was worse than the oaf, who still remained his roommate, because at least he could figure out when he wasn't wanted and left Hiei alone.

After breakfast, Hiei skipped all his morning classes. It was nothing concerning Minamino, though whenever Hiei was around the boy, he always managed to greatly arouse Hiei's annoyance. Hiei spent most of the morning reading in the library and avoiding teachers and the head librarian in case they saw him and realized he was not a part of the visiting class. He also watched the rain and how it washed the picture-perfect campus in a bland gray gloom. Finally, the Academy fit in with the reality of the outside world beyond its gates for once.

Later in the morning, the rain passed, and while the sun was out again, the dreariness and gloom had not completely vacated or been burned away by the sunlight, but Hiei grew tired of reading and slipped out of the library unseen.

By the Liberal Arts Hall, though, there was this large blossoming cherry tree that had grown to an impossible height and its trunk was at least a meter and a half or more in diameter. It was, no doubt, very ancient, well taken care of by the school, and much beloved, so it seemed only suiting for Hiei to make it into his perch. It was not, by far, his favorite, but it was his perch nonetheless.

He sat on one of the lower-middle branches with his arms crossed behind his head and his eyes shut. As expected, from time to time, the carillon chimes rang and students emptied out of classroom halls or marched inside them. Many walked right under Hiei without noticing him. No one really thought of looking too intently at the cherry tree. People noticed the tree, yes, saw how large it was, gazed at its pretty pink blossoms, and went on their way. They were not expecting anyone to dare climb the tree and did not search for a person hiding amongst the thickly flowered boughs. Hell, even that fatheaded bastard Iwamoto walked right underneath Hiei, looked precisely in his direction, and passed right on by.

Another class period passed by and another one started. Hiei remained in the tree, still resting, his head still cradled in the crook of his crossed arms. There was a flaw to his perch in the cherry tree, especially the particular spot Hiei had chosen to sit in. A gap in the boughs existed directly in the line of sight of a second-story classroom window. The opening in the branches was small, but if a student turned and looked out the window, they could see Hiei's face through the cherry blossoms. But Hiei was confident in the fact that no one expected anybody to be up in the tree and he stayed still so as to not garner attention. So far, it had been a good hiding spot.

A class filed into the room across from Hiei's perch. Of course, none paid attention to the outside. Hiei watched as boys and girls filled their desks, sitting in no sure order but wherever they pleased. Most teachers assigned seats in alphabetical order but a small few allowed their students the freedom of choice.

The seat in view of Hiei's spot in the cherry tree remained empty. Which was all well and good with Hiei. If someone was absent today, all the better. Hiei could relax this class period and not be disturbed by the possibility of being discovered.

And then, Minamino slid into the seat.

Hiei violently cursed.

It made sense. Where else would the guy who 'liked to study plants' sit if he had the choice but in front the window in view of the massive blossoming cherry tree… If Hiei had the foresight to guess where he would sit (and well, if he knew Minamino's class schedule as well), he could have known that Minamino was coming and would be in that seat and Hiei could have long disappeared.

 _You're such a pain_ , Hiei thought, glaring at Minamino, who as of yet had not noticed Hiei in the tree. _Don't you_ dare _look out that window, you—_

Whether it was happenstance, the pressure of Hiei's thoughts, or his glare intensified through the glass, something made Minamino turn and find Hiei in the tree without delay. Hiei immediately looked away, scowling first at the boy and maintaining the harsh expression even after he turned. Though he sulked at being caught, and by _Minamino_ of course, Hiei stared out from the side at his tutor, but for no other reason than he was watching to see if he was pointing him out to others or to the teacher.

Minamino had been surprised to see Hiei in the tree, that was no doubt. His eyebrows had raised and Hiei had quite clearly given the boy a mild start, but once all of the wonder of the surprise wore off, Minamino slipped easily into a cheerful expression, his brilliant green eyes vivid, and smiled at Hiei. He did not speak, point, or turn to anyone else and in fact he did not draw any attention to the fact that someone was outside. For certain, Minamino somehow found this all enjoyable and amusing, though Hiei deemed it all downright silly, inane, and—

 _Ridiculous,_ Hiei thought, and curtly glanced back over to Minamino, who was no longer looking out the window. The class must have started then. Hiei slid off the branch and landed on his feet, since he did not like the prospect of Minamino staring at him all through his lesson. As far as Hiei considered, as he snuck away to find someplace else to ditch class, Minamino should have kept his eyes at the front of the class the whole damn time.

-o-

Though Hiei knew Minamino was coming, he bristled and scowled at the sight of the boy walking, smiling as he always did, toward the end of longtable Hiei was sitting at. It was lunch and having just recently seen Minamino last class period while up in the cherry tree, Hiei wanted nothing to do with the boy. But Minamino never seemed to understand that. He seemed determined to talk to him no matter what.

"I must say…" Minamino said leisurely as he placed his tray on the table and sat down beside Hiei. "…You looked quite cute earlier today, all framed in pretty pink petals."

 _That's it!_ Hiei thought, snorting a violent huff of air, and shot up from his seat. Grabbing his tray without another word or scowl toward the boy, Hiei stormed away, refusing to look at Minamino or anybody else but the floor. He did not care what Minamino thought or how he looked to him. He did not care if he had hurt the boy's feelings. All Hiei cared about was getting away from Minamino before the boy could subject him to more preposterous blather, like his stupid comment that he was _'cute'_ up in that tree. Hiei had had enough of Kurama Minamino.

Hiei briskly scanned the cafeteria for another longtable that was not completely filled up or too crowded. He found one and marched straight over to it. It did not matter to him that he might not be wanted there. Hiei would take alienation over Minamino right now willingly.

"I'm sitting here," Hiei announced, slamming his tray on the table, "Deal with it." He sat at the table straight across from Yusuke, and as much as he did not like it, Kuwabara at his left.

"What happened?" Yusuke smiled wryly at Hiei and narrowed his eyes derisively, finding something about Hiei's sudden intrusion on their table inexplicably entertaining. "Minamino too much for you to handle—"

"Shut up," Hiei, his head angled down to hide his expression, growled coldly through his clenched teeth. "None of your business!"

"Your face is red," Kuwabara pointed out, snickering and smiling just as amusedly as Yusuke.

" _Because_ _I'm angry_!" Hiei roared at the lanky fool, making more than one seat empty in his vicinity rapidly. _Morons… Why_ else _would my face be red?_

"Like that's a news flash," Yusuke teased, still grinning, as he bent forward and presented a more open ear. "Come on. You've put up with Minamino for four days now…What makes today so special you gotta sit with us?"

"Leave it," Hiei ordered, his voice cold but peculiarly calm, as if the fire of his anger had burned itself out and just left him with harsh ice. "Or you'll regret asking."

" _Right_ …" Yusuke drew out sarcastically and leaned back. He shut his mouth but had yet to remove the casual grin. It grated on Hiei's nerves but had no idea what the boy was thinking and did not particularly want to. _His stupid thoughts are his own_ , Hiei scoffed and concentrated on his lunch.

"It's weird, y'know, that you're sittin' with us… " Kuwabara murmured, his face uncertain and disliking the change and the close distance to Hiei's immediate striking range even less.

Hiei wordlessly growled but otherwise paid no attention to Kuwabara beside him. The three sat in awkward silence, not one of them used to talking to one another (or well, used to talking with Hiei) or really with more than one person present, and spent their time eating so as to have an excuse not to speak.

In a rather ironic turn, Hiei was the one to break the quiet.

"Is he looking?" Hiei murmured, darting his eyes to the side and back, clearly uncomfortable by his own question.

The fact that Hiei would be inquiring about Minamino made Yusuke raise an eyebrow incredulously at him for a moment. Of course, it wasn't for the reason Yusuke was probably thinking up—Hiei just felt like someone was watching him…that was all.

"Ah, y'know, Minamino…The guy's got more followers than Jesus Christ," Yusuke offhandedly said, ignoring all the stares of blasphemy striking around him.

 _Point taken_ , Hiei thought. _Probably can't see where I am._

… _Good._

"Hey Hiei, " Yusuke said seriously, as he ran a fierce glare through any listening ears around them first. "Your arms hurt as much as ours for what that bastard Iwamoto put us through?"

"No," Hiei said. "You two must be weak." It was a lie, of course. Hiei was in just as much pain as they were but his tolerance was simply greater. This hurt didn't burn or bother Hiei. Not that that was anything Hiei could be proud of. Or dwell on.

Yusuke leaned in again and lowered his voice. "Wanna get back at Iwamoto? Y'know he pulled some bullshit with those water-repellant brushes," he smirked darkly. There was a devious gleam in his eyes that was rather infectious, Hiei realized. Even if Hiei was not already interested in making Iwamoto's life hell, Yusuke's eyes would have made him consider joining for the hell of it.

"We got a plan already," Yusuke nodded, indicating the 'we' to mean him and Kuwabara, "but we want to know if you want in."

"Urameshi does," Kuwabara said, "but I don't. More people means more trouble and you're not gonna slow us down, shorty."

"Then it's settled." Hiei scowled at Kuwabara. "I'm in."

"Great." Yusuke nodded and flashed another rakish smile as he straightened back. "Tell you more later, 'kay?"

Hiei nodded.

"I don't get it, Urameshi…" Kuwabara, his head hung in displeasure, grumbled. "Why are you being friendly with the runt?"

"'Cause, unlike some people I know," Yusuke growled and narrowed his eyes sharply at Kuwabara, "Hiei's not a snitch."

Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke by the shirt and proceeded to argue with Yusuke for the rest of lunch while Hiei sat smirking and watched the two idiots yell themselves hoarse as two teachers tried pulling them apart when it came to fists. Yusuke and Kuwabara went on fighting and forgot he was even there, and Hiei simply ignored the yelling—he was used to blocking out the shouting from the orphanage staff and the director. It was like he was sitting alone. Exactly how he wanted things to be.

With Minamino, though, he had yet to be alone. The boy paid far too much attention to him and would never become distracted or forget he was sitting beside him, and Hiei did not want that sort of direct focus on him. It was far too…personal. Hiei much preferred sitting with Yusuke and Kuwabara, or even at a different table, Hiei realized, as long as it was not _too_ crowded. Surrounded by so many other students, Hiei could be alone.

-o-

Kurama sighed as he tried peering over the heads of his fellow students and searched for Hiei without being blatant about it. The dining hall was packed and the side opposite of him was particularly occupied, with one giant boy especially blocking his delicate attempts to find Hiei without overly craning his neck and informing his classmates around him that he was not paying attention to their talking.

For now, Kurama stopped looking and waited.

 _Hiei obviously does not take jokes well…_ Kurama thought. _Though perhaps I have overplayed the game and gotten too under his skin. Of where to take the game or whether to end it, I am too uncertain. It is best if I approach him sometime after class and apologize—_

"Minamino?" the girl to his right asked and tugged lightly on his arm, forcing him out of his thoughts and to look at her. "Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, I am afraid that I did not," Kurama said, offering an apology in his voice and expression.

"That's all right." The girl smiled. "You probably have a lot on your mind, don't you, Minamino?"

"Yes," he nodded, bowing his head slightly as he gave a polite laugh, "I do and it distracts me from my other priorities, like listening to whatever it was you were saying, Miss Kirisawa."

The girl blushed and then readily chatted on about something pertaining to their history class, and Kurama let a small portion of his mind listen, record the gist of what she was saying, and waited for questions or any indication he was expected to speak. Meanwhile, the majority of his thoughts focused on dealing with Hiei, and more specifically how he could bring his animosity toward him down or, if it was possible, to a close.

 _Of all the tasks I have taken up_ , Kurama sighed. _I think this will be my most challenging._

-o-

"Hiei, may I speak with you?" a sweet, cheery voice asked Hiei from behind as he walked out of the dining hall, intending to slip past Iwamoto and skip his class. He already knew who the voice belonged to, so it was no mystery and he wound rather not speak to her ever again. If she was here to lecture him on what was 'good' for him again, he could not promise to refrain from punching her in the throat this time around. Besides, Hiei needed to get out of here before Iwamoto—

" _Jaganshi…_ " Iwamoto sniped.

Too late.

"Sister Midori is talking to you," he continued, condescendingly. "You better do her the courtesy of _speaking_ _back_ , and not in your _usual_ impertinent manner. You hear me, Jaganshi?"

" _Yes._ " Hiei turned and snapped back. He ignored Iwamoto's presence and his demand that Hiei refer to him as 'sir' and glowered at Sister Midori. "What do _you_ want?" As soon as he could get this over with the better, though Hiei wondered how he would elude Iwamoto afterwards.

Midori flinched at his biting response, and though she was intimidated, Midori did not back away. "My, my, you are full of energy," she said, a weak quiver in her voice. "Father Takenaka and I were right, when we spoke earlier this morning."

"About _what_?" Hiei scowled.

Iwamoto stepped forward. "Show respect, you little—"

Midori clutched Iwamoto's arm and stopped him. "Father Iwamoto, I know you mean well and I thank you for your support but I believe I can handle the boy. I should be able to, as I am a teacher at our Academy as much as you are," Midori, having found her backbone, said confidently and appeared more so.

"Sister Midori… I have had dealings with this boy before, none pleasant or easy. Perhaps it would be better if I were here to help you keep the boy in line…" Iwamoto tried sounding supportive and failed, to no surprise. His words sounded false, because they were.

"Contrary to what you may think, I can stand on my own, Father Iwamoto. I would not be a teacher or a house advisor if I could not handle teenagers, and Father Takenaka would not keep me if I was incapable of managing my duties," Sister Midori smiled and spoke graciously, but having taken offence to Iwamoto's words, her reply was anything but sincere.

Midori turned to Hiei. "Shall we walk for a bit? I won't keep you long, I promise. I realize that your next class is soon."

Hiei circled about, hearing Iwamoto grumble low about Hiei's next class being his, and walked with Midori. She waited until they were at least a fair distance from Iwamoto, so he would not interrupt or intrude on them once Midori began speaking.

"I'll skip the pleasantries and get to the matter, unless you wish to tell me how you're enjoying Sacred Heart so far and how you're doing…" Midori waited for a response and glanced over at Hiei and caught his harsh glare, wordlessly ordering her to hurry the chat along.

"Fine then," Midori said and shifted her gaze to face forward. "Father Takenaka and I were talking, and he came to propose an idea to me that I readily agree with and think that you would benefit marvelously from experiencing."

"Just what…" Hiei said through tightly gritted teeth and quietly bridled with rage, already not liking and wanting to have nothing with any of this, "…are you suggesting I do?"

"Given your little late night excursion and the paint—"

"I had NOTHING to do with that," Hiei defended himself, narrowing his eyes and scowling bitterly at Sister Midori.

"Yes, well…" The nun stayed brave, though her eyes glanced about concerned. "The fact remains that you were out of bed late, and it is quite obvious that you have much energy to expend. So the headmaster and I believe it would be for the best and in your best interest if you engaged in an extra-curricular activity—"

"No."

"But-but," Midori said intelligently, as she scrambled to speak quickly, in fear Hiei was about to run. "Our Academy has many different teams, clubs, and interest groups… Surely you could find one—"

"No," Hiei firmly repeated, interrupting the nun for the third time in a row.

"But—"

"Having trouble, Sister Midori?" Father Takenaka said cordially as he stepped toward her and Hiei. "Young Jaganshi here not taking well to our little suggestion?" he added, matching eyes with Hiei and smiling.

"No, sir… " Midori bowed her head, both out of respect for Father Takenaka and in shame for her failure to convince Hiei on her own. "He is being as difficult as you said he would be."

"I'm _standing_ right here you know," Hiei growled. As much as he did not mind being ignored, Hiei hated being talked about, especially if he was right in front of the persons talking.

"We are quite certain of that, Hiei," the headmaster, still smiling, nodded amiably. "You are why Sister Midori and I are standing here with you. Now, we have a request we wish to make of you concerning finding an activity after class—"

"I know this already," Hiei interrupted the headmaster. "I hate your stupid idea, and I'm not going to do it! And if you think you can persuade me otherwise, you can go f—"

" _Hiei_ ," the authoritative Father Takenaka said stern, his expression pinched and firm, and deeply frowned. "I have been lenient on you so far but press me any more and I will have no other option but to discipline you. I do not wish to walk that path with you, preferring to be sociable and open with you, but I will take it if I must. That is the truth, Mr. Jaganshi."

Takenaka briefly closed his eyes and relaxed the sternness from his voice, but not his expression, with a long breath. "Now, our request is nothing extravagant and is something you are surely capable of doing. Many of our clubs are having signups today and our sports teams are holding their tryouts, and there are posters everywhere listing where they meet or where to go to join, so you have no excuse there. I am not even asking that you join, only that you participate and try. …Is that something you can do, Mr. Jaganshi?"

"…Yes, sir," Hiei, his head bowed, begrudgingly said. In his thoughts, he cursed the headmaster.

"You hate me now, but you will thank me one day for the experience," Takenaka said smiling kindly. "Now don't you have a class to be heading to?" Takenaka dismissed Hiei with a light tip of the head.

 _In your dreams,_ Hiei scoffed as he turned and began walking away. As if he was going to punish himself with Iwamoto after being badgered into Takenaka's ridiculous request…

"Hiei," Father Takenaka called, "I will call Iwamoto in class and ask if you are there, and if you are not, I will not be pleased. I have received reports of you not in class all morning, and I will not tolerate this behavior lasting all day. Go get your things and go to class. I will ask Iwamoto not to label you tardy, though we both have no doubt that he will, so hurry along now."

Hiei hunched down into his uniform and muttered angrily as he quickened his pace, both to get away from the headmaster and in physical response to his own ire. First, Minamino, now Father Takenaka and Sister Midori, and soon to be Iwamoto—today just seemed to be his day for everyone to piss him off!

 _Screw Takenaka!_ Hiei thought, heading toward the dorms and planning to stay there. _I'm not going to class. That old man doesn't order me around!_

-o-

So it turned out the old man, being the headmaster, could order Hiei around. Skipping Iwamoto's class and his next, Hiei grew bored hiding in his dorm room and left to find some other place to ditch his next class and Minamino's and ignored Father Takenaka's calls to his office over the intercom system. The roof of the Science Hall seemed like a good choice.

Until Father Takenaka caught him there. He was angry and disappointed, mostly disappointed, at Hiei and gave him detention with Iwamoto for his insubordination. He also personally escorted Hiei to his tutorial class with Minamino. He was tardy by a few minutes, but Hiei was there, greeted by Minamino's placid smile and his gracious thank-you to the headmaster for bringing Hiei to class and surrounded by Yusuke and Kuwabara's snickering. It was rather humiliating, but that was most likely the point—to be a deterrence to force Hiei to quit skipping, as Father Takenaka saw it. Hiei just saw it as reminder not to get caught.

So Hiei was stuck in Minamino's class. He took the boy's stupid test, and left as soon as Minamino uttered the word 'dismissed' from his pretty lips. Hiei was out and he was free. Takenaka couldn't make him go anywhere else.

And then, Hiei remembered his agreement with the headmaster on the Science Hall rooftop. Like a plea bargain, Takenaka reduced Hiei's punishment from a detention with Iwamoto for his every missed class today to just the one if Hiei tried to find an extra-curricular activity. The deal was in Hiei's favor. Not only did he not have to join a particular team or club, he just had to show an attempt at finding an activity and once he was present long enough to decide he did not like it, he could leave.

Basically, all Hiei had to do was go to _one_ activity, wait five minutes, and leave, fulfilling Takenaka's request by technicality. Finding and exploiting loopholes, for Hiei, were always the best part of making agreements.

Hiei stopped and checked the cork message boards, the pair just before the metal front doors of the Science Hall and the very same that clown Suzuki had pinned Hiei against his first day at the Academy during their 'fight', and searched down the list of open teams and clubs. Hiei looked for the most pathetic or boring sounding, anything that no one would join or that Hiei would want to escape quickly, but the track team had caught his eye before he could decide between the _go_ club or the _janken_ team.

 _That won't even take five minutes,_ Hiei smirked. _It's perfect. If I don't make it, Takenaka can't complain. I did try, after all there were eyewitnesses present to verify I was there and failed…_

Hiei was very happy with his plan.

-o-

"All right!" shouted the track coach, a tall fit man in his mid-thirties who also, if Hiei remembered right, was a history teacher for the upperclassmen. "Get on your mark, get set, GO!"

Hiei, placed in the fourth lane, pushed off from the starting point. He was up against three other boys. Two were built and looked perfect for running track, and cut away from the Hiei and their other competition early on. They would without fault make the team. The other boy in the third lane beside Hiei was, honestly, too broad-shouldered and muscular to run in track, and he stampeded down his lane like a raging elephant, or like Kuwabara, which to Hiei equated to about the same. He basically looked like a football recruit who had taken one too many blows to the head and did not realize that he was on the track field.

Hiei wanted to come in last but the idiot in the next lane's lumbering made it difficult for Hiei to gauge his own speed. It was also the slowest Hiei had ever run. As far as Hiei considered, he wasn't even running. His 'speed' was pathetic. But it was perfect. Hiei didn't race forward and suddenly drop his speed—that would have alerted the coach's eye—but stayed consistent around the track at a truly terrible speed and finished the single lap last at two minutes-thirty seconds. It was a horrible time.

Hiei stood off to the side by the fence entrance to the stands. Much to his annoyance, the wide boy came over, wheezing and gasping for breath, and hunched over beside him. Hiei had been standing there alone, waiting for the coach to tell him he wasn't good enough, but now with the other boy beside him, he felt like he stood in the losers' space. And Hiei was no loser.

The coach came over and said politely, "Sorry boys… But you're not quite the right material we need. You're welcome to try again next year though. Thanks for coming out."

The coach turned and left to greet the newcomers, and Hiei quietly snorted in condescension. As if he would try next year, he hadn't even wanted to try out for this year… At least, he'd gotten Takenaka's request over with quickly, and now he could leave.

Hiei stayed.

He stayed for the rest of the track tryouts, he stayed as the kind coach gave his new team a welcoming, encouraging speech, confident in their team's chances this year, and still he stayed after the tryouts were over and everyone had cleared the field. When he was certain there was no one around, Hiei walked back onto the track, stood in the fourth lane, and positioned himself at the starting point.

When ready, Hiei ran.

He ran for real this time. No gauging, no restraint, he bolted around the track as fast as he could run and then pushed himself beyond that. In that moment, racing around the second curve, Hiei was unbound from the world. His anger and rest of his unpleasant feelings were washed aside in the waves of exhilaration, peace, and joy as he ran. His scars were distant wraiths, still there with him but on the fringes of his being, repelled and repulsed by his joy. The shadows of his scars were so small and insignificant that if Hiei wanted to overlook them he could and did.

In that moment, burning around the track, Hiei wasn't that broken creature bent inwardly in that self-serving reporter's leaked photo of him after he had been found—no, he was far from that and never would be again he swore. He wasn't the hand-me-down boy shipped off and sent back from foster home to foster home until no one asked for him anymore. He wasn't the small freak with the strangely-colored eyes and a mean face that adopting parents avoided in favor of the 'nice' kids who teased and bullied him. He wasn't even the charity case given a hand-out and a new chance, albeit an often annoying new chance, at a good life.

For once, he could be none of those yet still be somebody. And stripped of those labels, Hiei was…well, Hiei and he was happy with that.

The only shortcoming of his unbinding run was Hiei finishing the lap in sixty-two seconds and his joy coming to a stop. Fleeting as it was, it was worth experiencing. Hiei slowed and lightly staggered on his unsteady legs—unused to running all out very often—over to the metal fence and leaned his back against it. Catching his quickened breath and enjoying the feel of his heart beating rapidly in his chest, Hiei bowed his head as he looked back on his repeated lap and the peace he unexpectedly found and smirked. He proved he was not a loser.

"Impressive…" said a familiar soft voice from behind Hiei. "Why did you not run like that in front of the coach however?"

Hiei circled and immediately scowled and glared at the sight of Kurama Minamino standing behind him. As far as Hiei could figure, he had to have been hiding and watching from beside the stands, anywhere else Hiei probably would have seen him, except for when he was actually running—in his elation, Hiei didn't pay attention to anything else then.

"None of your business!" he spat angrily in poor reply. His face was flushed, both because of his run and his anger and embarrassment at getting caught by Minamino.

"You are right. It is not my business," Minamino said evenly and softly smiled. "If you do not wish to tell me, I will not intrude."

Hiei quirked an eyebrow. Needless to say, he was not expecting Minamino's response. The Minamino Hiei was familiar with all week was more inquisitive and determined and liked to subtly pry at Hiei to get answers or responses out of him. He did not let things be if Hiei did not wish to say anything. _It's a trap_ , his conscious told him but Hiei hesitated to believe that. His uncertainty expressed itself clearly in his face as he opened and closed his mouth in many failed starts at a smart reply.

"Why are you out here anyway?" Hiei asked when he regained his ability for speech. "You followed me, didn't you?"

Minamino dipped his head to the side briefly in consideration and then nodded yes. "While this is public space and students are allowed to watch the tryouts if they wish, I will admit that I followed you but for a good reason."

Hiei narrowed his eyes and studied Minamino critically as he waited for his excuse. If it was a poor one and his tutor was wasting his time, Hiei wondered whether or not to punch him, storm off, or do both.

"But first, excuse me," Minamino said, clutching the top of the fence and hopping over so that he and Hiei stood on the same side. Hiei had to admit, as he stepped back out of his way and watched Minamino jump the fence and land nimbly on his feet, that it was a pretty deft and fluid move out of a kind of geeky guy like Minamino. It had certainly surprised Hiei, though he definitely did not let his expression tell Minamino that…

"The reason I followed you is simple…" Minamino said and met Hiei's eyes, "…I wanted to apologize for what I said to you earlier at lunch. I meant my comment in jest but it clearly discomforted you so I should not have said it. Will you forgive me for my insensitivity?" Minamino held out his open hand.

Hiei shifted his stare from Minamino's extended hand back up to his eyes and returned down to his hand. Receiving apologies was a rare occurrence for Hiei, who was more used to being forced to give apologies for his bad behavior from the director than the reverse. People did not apologize to Hiei often and when they did, they were never as sincere as Minamino was being. Hiei looked into Minamino's brilliant green eyes, bright even outside in the late afternoon-early evening sunlight, and saw no dishonest intention in his actions. Hiei's conscious still screamed it was a trap but Hiei could find no fault in Minamino's honesty on his own.

Nervously, though he would never admit that, Hiei swallowed his breath and reluctantly raised his left hand and clasped the tips of Minamino's ring and middle finger, because it was all the physical contact Hiei could force himself to handle, and shook Minamino's hand to accept his apology. It was a single, limp shake but Hiei pushed through the touch and, once it was over, he immediately drew his hand away and tucked it closely against his side.

"Thank you," Minamino said and smiled, even if Hiei held his head down and angled to the side and he did not actually see Minamino's smile, he recognized the feel of it all the same.

Minamino checked his watch. "If you have no more business here, shall we go to dinner?"

Hiei softly grumbled something intelligibly under his breath but followed beside Minamino anyway with little protest. At first, Hiei thought they would walk in absolute silence, but considering it was Minamino, that would never be the case.

"Your time was remarkable, Hiei. You surpassed even the lead boy's time by six seconds," Minamino said, his voice light and pleasing, as he continued walking beside Hiei. "…Goes to show what you can do when you apply yourself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiei growled and stood still, throwing Minamino a sharp glare. He was irritated, yes, but not quite angry yet. Whether he soon would be all depended with Minamino's answer.

Minamino paused and turned to face Hiei. "That you are capable of more than you let on."

Minamino's voice remained light and he smiled at Hiei but his profound gaze sunk deeply into and through Hiei like not even a whole auditorium full of people staring at him could measure up against. Hiei had only felt this exposed once before and it too had not been a pleasant experience and in fact was one of his worst. But candle flames, while capable of hurting, do not equal wildfires, and in no way did even Minamino's concentrated gaze weigh up to the intensity of that horrific incident.

Still Minamino's stare was more than Hiei liked to bear and the boy's answer had unsettled him a bit. Hiei had expected to get angry at whatever Minamino said, no matter what it was, but upon hearing his answer and the satisfaction in his voice for getting to say it, Hiei found that he could not be angry with Minamino…in this instance.

"And If I am correct then," Minamino continued, "you most likely do not even require my tutoring. Your understanding of science is odds-on more than sufficient."

"Don't act like you know me," Hiei said, his voice full of ice, and gave Minamino a warning stare. "Because you don't."

"Very well then," Minamino replied brightly, undaunted by Hiei's coldness, and wore a vague, enigmatic smile, as he faced his gaze ahead. "Shall we continue on to dinner now?"

"Hn," Hiei replied and followed side by side with Minamino or a step behind him all the long way back to the dining hall.

-o-

Hiei realized a very funny thing as he suffered through cleaning all the toilets in all the restrooms of the Science Hall for Iwamoto's choice for Takenaka's assigned detention later that evening. It may have been the pungent cleaning chemicals going to his head but Hiei finely remembered that, for once in all his mostly one-sided talks with Minamino at meals, that after his last one at dinner earlier, he did not feel like storming away. It was peculiar. He had been somewhat civil with the boy and, if Hiei's clouded mind wasn't incorrect, he might have even had an actual conversation with his tutor that didn't end with Hiei sulking in a bitter rage or having an avid desire to hit Minamino.

 _That didn't happen_ , Hiei thought and gave a cursory examination to the highlighter green liquid in the spray bottle next to him. _This stuff is twisting my short-term memory._

Because Hiei having civil conversations with Minamino was _simply_ impossible and would never happen.

" _Daydreaming_ , are you?" he heard Iwamoto sneer as the brute twisted and pinned his right arm behind his back and pressed his head down and nearly into the toilet bowl to strain his neck. "You have a long night ahead of you, so I advise you hurry along in your work. You'll be tasting toilet water next if I catch you slacking off again, Jaganshi."

Hiei glowered at Iwamoto and bared his teeth as the bastard circled and walked back to his supervisor's seat on the long faux marble sink countertop. It was then, as he turned around and returned to scrubbing the inside of the toilet bowl, that Hiei realized that, even if he was annoying, unsettling, and an insufferable know-it-all who talked to and wouldn't leave Hiei alone, that being stuck in a room with Minamino was still better than with Iwamoto any day.

 _Damn chemicals…_ Hiei blamed and continued working.

And Hiei scrubbed and cleaned and rescrubbed and recleaned every toilet in every restroom in the Science Hall. When his detention was finally over, it was late into the night, a few minutes to midnight in fact.

Hiei readily left as soon as Iwamoto contemptuously dismissed him. He was tired and his arms were sore from scrubbing, so were his knees and legs from staying on them and his back from being hunched over for hours. The chemicals had irritated his eyes and throat, and Hiei still wasn't sure of their possible adverse effects on his brain. It wouldn't surprise Hiei if Iwamoto had 'accidentally' exposed him to some toxic concoction just to torture him, but he couldn't be certain of anything until morning. Right now, Hiei just wanted to fall into his bed and sleep.

As he left the Science Hall and turned toward the dorms, Hiei noticed a light on in one of the laboratories but did not care enough to question why there would be someone in a lab so late at night and kept on walking without pause back to the dorms.

-o-

At 11:59 p.m., Kurama Minamino calmly hummed a cheerful song, his sweet, soft voice reverberating in and filling the empty laboratory, as he diligently went on with his work and research. At the stroke of midnight, the song cracked and hissed and faded until its sound was gone and Kurama Minamino spoke no more.


	6. Chapter 6

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I do not own YYH. Not a bit.

-o-

Chapter Six: Silent Voices

-o-

For anyone else, waking up and being unable to talk would be a great concern. Not for Kurama Minamino, though he understood why it would be a shock for others. However, Kurama's inability to talk was a special case. He knew why he lost his voice and, having been stricken by the condition for the past eight years, was used to its yearly arrival. He only lost his voice for one day, so it really was more of an inconvenience than anything to fret over.

Truthfully, Kurama enjoyed his day without a voice. Besides the difficult struggle all day to keep certain memories hidden, going a day excluded from his classmates' silly and sometimes downright petty conversations about him was more than a pleasant respite.

And free from the social constraints of having to listen and respond to the people around him, Kurama often went through most of the day completely in his thoughts and no one interrupted him. Until he had accepted and grown accustomed to his condition, Kurama had never realized how liberating living in silence could be. If it wasn't for his family and the necessity for speech in other valued aspects of his life, Kurama would prefer living life without talking.

However, pragmatically, Kurama knew that would never work, so he enjoyed his day in silence as thoroughly as possible. He remained inwardly focused and fought back the recollections that tried to ruin his gratification by reminding him of the day's importance while going on with his day as if it were any other, outwardly presenting everyone a calm, smiling demeanor.

With the simple explanation of suffering from laryngitis to his fellow students and teachers, Kurama spent his Saturday morning in the library completing his homework for the weekend and doing a little research on the side with fewer and shorter interruptions than usual from his classmates. Though as Kurama expected, as word spread of his voiceless state, more and more students (mostly girls) came over to wish him well. Kurama took the well-meaning disruptions in stride, though the steady break of his concentration strained his patience.

At one point, however, Kurama noticed the generous number of people coming by. On a curious hunch, he leaned in his chair to the side. Privately, Kurama was astonished to see that an apparent _line_ of well-wishers had formed. He blinked at the sight, straightened back in his seat, and returned to his homework.

…And the twenty or so students in line to wish him good health.

Kurama sighed. _For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. …Though I do not think it was ever said whether the reaction would be rational._

The president of the Biology club stepped up next. After a bit of small talk concerning Kurama's health, the anxious young man in glasses once again resumed their usual exchange and asked Kurama to join the club and take the position of president. As best as he could non-verbally, Kurama politely turned down the offer. He knew the boys in the club, most being fourth-years like himself and sharing the same science course as him. They were nice fellows and overall were intelligent, but their discussions and projects bored Kurama and Kurama had no leeway in his schedule for idleness.

The boy bowed and said in a pleading voice that he wished Kurama changed his mind, adding that the offer was always open, and hoped he was well soon. When he left, a girl stepped up next with a small bouquet of flowers from the greenhouse in her arms. Kurama pitied the poor white gardenia, pink geranium, and red carnation plants she had damaged on his behalf, but he faked a smile and his appreciation and accepted the flowers from the whippet thin sixth-year girl. Kurama noted to later use the flowers for pollination. At least before they died as a consequence of this girl's thoughtlessness, these flowers could be practical in continuing the species.

The girl left giggling foolishly, and the next well-wisher stepped forward, though much to Kurama's preference and relief, the girl was empty-handed. Kurama sighed again. _The wave will pass, the seas will settle, and I will be left alone to work. Eventually,_ Kurama told himself and nodded in thanks for whatever the third-year girl had said.

And Kurama was right. Eventually he was left alone, after what felt like and he estimated to be most of the school, including faculty, coming over to his table. But he was used to it. His voiceless state always brought extra undue attention to him from the Academy but once the strings of social courtesies finished, Kurama was left with his thoughts and his silence.

Once alone, Kurama quite enjoyed his Saturday morning, the whole hour of it that remained. If it was not for skipping breakfast that morning and his stomach reminding him it was about lunch, Kurama would have stayed late into the afternoon, but that was not the case. He gathered his papers, put away the unnecessary books, checked out what he needed, and left the library.

Kurama had to admit, as he entered the dining hall several minutes later and saw Hiei Jaganshi already sitting at his customary table, that as much as he enjoyed his day unable to speak, the day was not without its drawbacks.

-o-

Hiei bristled as Minamino approached his table. Usually, Minamino greeted him with some banal pleasantry but not always, like today, it seemed. Minamino gave a polite, little wave and smiled as he took a seat beside Hiei and, most strangely, started eating.

Hiei quirked an eyebrow. Something was off. Minamino _never_ sat down and started eating. He talked. Incessantly. Minamino always found something to ask Hiei or prattle on about—the boy was a well of polite conversation and Hiei did not believe the well was dry for one second. Minamino would say something soon. So Hiei waited. Minamino ate.

Hiei waited some more.

Minamino ate. Hiei ate.

Hiei waited and tapped the end of his plastic fork against his tray as he waited. The sound annoyed Hiei but he hoped it annoyed Minamino as well. The boy wouldn't reach over and stall his hand—Minamino was too polite. He would ask him to stop.

Minamino took a sip of milk.

Hiei scowled and tapped his fork louder—Minamino's silence was starting to piss him off. Hiei's plastic fork was heavily bent, and with any more squeeze, it was bound to snap.

Everything about this annoyed Hiei. It annoyed Hiei that Minamino broke routine and started eating. It annoyed Hiei that Minamino wasn't speaking, that he wasn't asking him how his morning was, or if he needed help with his homework, or his opinion on whether Shakespeare really wrote all of his works, or pointing out tomorrow's weather based on cloud formations and the wind. It annoyed Hiei that Minamino had yet to say _anything_. It annoyed Hiei that he was annoyed by Minamino not talking to him—after all, why should that irritate him? Wasn't that what he wanted ever since Minamino first sat down beside him? Of course, it was.

Then why did Minamino's silence _bother_ him? Hiei almost preferred Minamino rambled on about _something_ rather than just sitting beside him. Sitting like this in silence didn't give Hiei any strong reason to be visibly aggravated by Minamino. Students needed to see him irritated by Minamino, just like they needed to see that Minamino's conversations were one-sided. Hiei didn't want to be seen just sitting with Minamino.

Because that made it seem like they enjoyed one another's company, like they were friends. And they were not. And the Academy's student body did not need to get the wrong impression and start flocking around him trying to befriend him just because they thought the all-wonderful, always-right Minamino was his friend now. Because Minamino was not his friend.

 _I'm not his friend. …Minamino's up to something,_ Hiei reasoned.

So Hiei waited.

Minamino ate.

And Hiei waited.

And waited.

Hiei's fork snapped.

"What the hell is it?" Hiei turned to Minamino and stared the boy straight in the eyes. "Why aren't you blabbering on?"

Unsurprised, Minamino looked at him and smiled. Hiei cursed at how understanding Minamino seemed to be about his outburst. Minamino raised a hand, tapped two fingers against his throat, and shook his head from side to side. The boy kept repeating the gesture until Hiei finally caught on by the third repeat.

"So you lost your voice," Hiei said dryly and smirked. "…Perhaps there is a God."

Minamino dropped his smile and flattened his stare. If Minamino could speak, it was obvious his words would have been: _'You do not really mean that.'_

"Yes, I do," Hiei replied as he began stabbing the vegetables in his soup.

Minamino still looked at him incredulously and flashed a small, I-don't-believe-you smirk before he picked up his school briefcase from beside him on the bench and drew out a spiral notebook and a pen.

Flipping the notebook open, Minamino jotted something down quickly on a page and turned the notebook around to show him. _I suppose this will have to suffice until my voice returns. Fine with you?_

"Hn," Hiei grunted and casually shrugged his shoulders. "You're easier to ignore."

 _I suppose,_ Minamino wrote. _But you do not intend to disregard me._

Hiei narrowed his stare. "Watch me," he said, averting away from Minamino's notebook, and focused on his lunch, now lukewarm.

Minamino kept writing and flipping over the notebook and Hiei kept his eyes closed and ate. He ignored Minamino as the boy persistently tried to regain his notice and communicate with him. It was a rather adequate substitution for their usual exchange and well enough served Hiei's purposes well enough in keeping his social circle limited to himself, at most.

Still something Minamino wrote bothered him.

… _You do not intend to disregard me_ , Hiei mocked in his thoughts and huffed brusquely. What did Minamino know? Nothing because he was wrong. Of course, Hiei could ignore him. Hiei could ignore him any time he wished. He just…that was to say, so far…he had not. He could though. It was just…a little hard.

But with Minamino struck silent, ignoring the boy was much easier than usual. Hiei wasn't sure why. Had to be his voice. Something with Minamino's voice always drew Hiei to listen to him. Maybe it was the polite manner of his speech or, more likely, the sound of his voice itself—either way Hiei did not know why he never could tune out Minamino completely. No matter if he swore to ignore Minamino, every time the boy spoke, Hiei listened. He didn't respond to everything, but he did hear it all. And now, Hiei realized, Minamino's smooth tenor voice had something to do with it. And without that charm, a voiceless Minamino was easier to ignore.

Until the boy started lightly tapping the notebook against his head. It felt no different than a raindrop pattering on his head, but still, Hiei reviled the contact. Minamino was intentionally attempting to piss him off. And it worked. Hiei snatched the notebook, flung it behind him and against the cafeteria wall, and faced Minamino.

" _What?_ " Hiei growled, glowering at the boy.

Minamino, his lips tightly shut as he held back his smile poorly, shook with silent laughter before he rose from the table and picked up the notebook. Minamino wrote quickly, not knowing how long he had his focus. _I thought you were ignoring me._ Hiei could hear the light sarcasm permeating his writing.

"You were tapping my head," Hiei said, still growling. "There's a _difference._ "

_Sorry about that. Really, I am. It was all meant in play and I had to get your attention somehow._

"Why?" Hiei stared sidelong at Minamino and regarded him suspiciously. His voice had luckily remained indifferent and had not sounded curious about Minamino's reply at all.

 _To talk to you. Because you did not like the silence. You wanted me to talk to you. You were waiting for me to talk. You_ still _want to talk._

"I did not! Was not!" Hiei hotly denied. "And you're dumb. By both definitions."

 _Your fork protests otherwise_ , Minamino retorted and playfully smirked.

"Shut up!" Hiei said, immediately realizing his error. Hiei felt low. He was losing an argument on paper against a temporary mute, albeit the mute was the smartest boy at the Academy, but still…

Today wasn't his brightest day. And Minamino knew.

_It's okay. I do not take offense to that or your stab at my voiceless state and intellect. I forgive you. I suspect I will be better by tomorrow. I look rather forward to it, seeing how this form of communication is rather cumbersome, wouldn't you say?_

Hiei agreed. "I preferred ignoring you the conventional way. This method gives you a weapon."

Minamino smiled brightly. _Please forgive me, but it was between that or clicking my pen._ Minamino demonstrated and clicked his pen. Hiei swiped at the pen but Minamino drew away. He stopped clicking.

_The pen was too much like your fork, anyway. I prefer being original._

"You're being bothersome," Hiei said. "…Not like you usually aren't."

Minamino quietly laughed. _Just having a little friendly fun with you. No harm intended. You do not mind, do you?_

Hiei snorted derisively and scowled at the boy. "You write another stupid thing like that and I _will_ hit you with your notebook."

-o-

 _Very well_ , Kurama wrote and gave Hiei a polite nod. He wanted to laugh. He could not, but Kurama wanted to. Hiei Jaganshi still remained stubborn and blinded by pride or whatever the impenetrable, ultra-thick wall was that blocked Hiei from seeing the truth.

 _He does not wish to admit that he might be growing accustomed to my company_ , Kurama thought. _Hiei Jaganshi remains very interesting. Yes, obstinate and aggressive still, but very interesting._

Kurama asked Hiei on paper if there was anything he wanted to talk about. He received a curt stare and a scowl. Kurama offered his own questions and topics and Hiei now and again answered him when it interested him. Sometimes he graced Kurama with an actual response, albeit a short one, and other times he shrugged, or grunted, or gave no reply at all.

 _For its shortcomings, my inability to speak for the day has made a curious advancement between Hiei Jaganshi and I_ , Kurama realized.

_For once, Hiei initiated our conversation and appears more willing to maintain it._

-o-

After lunch with a mute Minamino, Hiei was not in a bad humor. He was far from being in a good humor, but was not in a bad one either. He was, one could say, indifferent—which was hardly a good thing, in Hiei's opinion. Reason and past history told Hiei he was supposed to be angry, or at least irritated, at Minamino.

But he wasn't. In fact, Hiei realized, since last night's dinner, Hiei had not been truly angry and only a bit irritated by Minamino and seemed to now leave the dining hall feeling indifferent, whereas he used to leave in a sulk or wanting to punch Minamino. Hiei had chalked up the first time to his memory being blurred by Iwamoto's pungent chemicals, but the same thing had just happened again and Hiei's mind was clear.

 _Iwamoto's chemicals were stronger than I credited. I must still be a little hazy_ , Hiei decided. _That's the only logical explanation. Otherwise—_

Hiei stomped on that idea before it had time to fully form. He didn't want to think of any other reason for his slight change toward Minamino, which was only a _very_ _slight_ change—he still disliked him, they were not friends, and Minamino was still a know-it-all pain whose presence alone bothered Hiei to no end. Any other explanation was stupid, anyway, especially after Hiei had deemed the matter decided.

Making a quick walk back to the dorms for his books, Hiei chose to spend his first Saturday at the Academy reading in a secluded nook in the library and not doing his homework. As far as Hiei was concerned, if he was not desperately bored at some point, his homework would most likely go unfinished all weekend. After all, there were more important things he could occupy his time with, like sleeping or seeing how many times he could reread Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_ in one weekend. Important things.

"Hey, Hiei!"

Hiei kept walking. He did not want to be around anyone right now. Not Minamino. And not Yusuke Urameshi either.

"Been lookin' for you all day," Yusuke said, after he had run and caught up with Hiei. "Hard to see you behind the taller hedges, heh." He flashed a rakish smile.

Hiei wished he wasn't only halfway to the library. Then again, Yusuke would probably have some smart comment about that as well. Most likely some comparison to Minamino. It didn't matter to Hiei what Yusuke used to insult him. The boy was a fool and hardly worth his time. Hiei ignored him.

Yusuke stood still and put his hands in his pockets. His smile had turned into a hard smirk. Hiei continued walking. "If you want to be a hard-ass, fine. But if you want to get Iwamoto, you gotta come with me now."

Hiei stopped and turned around. "Right now?"

"Yea, right now," Yusuke repeated condescendingly. "Don't tell me you got something better to do."

Hiei shrugged and followed Yusuke to the Science Hall. Waiting at the front metal doors was Kuwabara, looking peeved and suspicious, especially with how the oaf shifted his stare from one side to the other looking to see if anyone was around. Really, a shotgun blast knew how to be more inconspicuous than the lanky fool. Hiei grumbled angrily to himself. If he got caught because of his moron of a roommate…

"What took you so long?" Kuwabara said. "Been waitin' here forever, all 'cause you had to find the runt."

"And he's here, isn't he?" Yusuke narrowed his eyes and growled. "So quit your bitchin' and let's go in."

"Fine," Kuwabara huffed. "But you take this. I don't wanna be seen with it."

Kuwabara pushed a small book bag into Yusuke's arms. Not any book bag issued by the Academy but a book bag someone owned and brought from home. It was a little girl's book bag, to be precise. It was plastic and neon pink and was quite possibly the anathema of all that was masculine.

"Like hell, I am." Yusuke shoved the book bag back into Kuwabara's hands. "Besides, it's got kittens on it. You like kittens."

Kuwabara struggled with Yusuke. Each one pushed the bag toward the other. Hiei was quickly bored with watching the two idiots essentially play tug-of-war with that ridiculous bag. Hiei wasn't here to hang out. He wanted revenge on Iwamoto. He had better things to do than be seen near these fools.

"Yea, I like kittens, but I'm also a man. And this bag ain't manly."

"Neither is liking kittens," Hiei said flatly.

"Shut up, mouth! Why don't you take it? It's your size!" Kuwabara tossed the bag to Hiei.

Hiei stepped back and let the book bag drop to the ground. The bag's contents shifted and clanged against the concrete walkway.

"Easy, you idiot!" Yusuke smacked Kuwabara in the shoulder. "The stuff's sensitive and the cans were opened before."

"How was I supposed to know?" Kuwabara grumbled as rubbed his shoulder. "Last night, you changed the plan and didn't tell me nothin'. What's in it, anyway?"

Yusuke picked up the bag and took a quick look inside. The boy gave a sigh and ran a hand through his slicked-back black hair in relief. The cans apparently were still shut and nothing had happened.

Yusuke snickered to himself. He peered over his shoulder and grinned at a befuddled Kuwabara. "You'll see."

Kuwabara blinked and Hiei just wanted things to get started. He was tired of waiting. Hiei crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Yusuke, in hopes he would get the message and they could get revenge already. Hiei did have other things to do, like occupy the one remote study corner not secretly being used for necking.

"Let's go," Yusuke said. And Hiei followed behind him while Kuwabara lagged behind. Though Yusuke had been the last to hold it, somehow, Kuwabara ended up carrying the book bag anyway.

Being the weekend, the Science Hall was quiet and mostly unoccupied. Students were allowed inside to use the classrooms for meetings and study groups and the labs with permission. But, as Yusuke explained, the predominant use of the open buildings was for sex among the more adventurous or desperate-not-to-be-interrupted types and the many empty stairwells and rooms provided plenty of places to choose from, as long as none of the teachers on patrol or the wrong janitor caught you.

They reached the teachers' offices and, without delay, found Iwamoto's desk.

"All right," Yusuke said in a hushed voice as he quickly scoped the room. "Hiei, you take lookout. Kuwabara—"

"Like hell." Hiei glared. "I'm not standing around. I came to get revenge."

Rather than argue and waste precious time, Yusuke relented. "Fine," Yusuke huffed. "Kuwabara, you're the lookout. Hiei, you're with me."

Kuwabara murmured angrily underneath his breath, finding his reassignment clearly to his disliking and completely unfair. Yusuke silenced him swiftly with a sharp stare and took the book bag out of his hands. Kuwabara left to his post by the door, leaving Yusuke and Hiei standing behind Iwamoto's desk. Yusuke crouched and set the book bag on the robin's egg blue tiled floor.

"This…" Yusuke whispered as he unzipped the bag, revealing two quart-sized metal canisters, "…might actually wipe that sour look off your face. 'Specially when you see what this stuff does."

The cans had no labeling or any indication of what contents they held. Yusuke handed one to Hiei. Having no clue to what he held, Hiei kept the canister at an arm's length from his face. "And this is?" Hiei asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Yusuke looked up and smirked like how Hiei imagined the trickster god Loki would whenever he had a truly brilliant, cunning, and _awful_ idea to execute. "A little wonder called AB foam."

Hiei had never heard of AB foam. "What does it do?"

Yusuke flashed another devious grin, one Loki and all the rest of his trickster brethren would have easily worn and been proud of. "You'll see. Just pop the top and follow my directions."

And with a little wedging from Iwamoto's scissors, Hiei pried the lid off. Yusuke pulled out the bottom-left drawer. They left the papers and folders inside. Yusuke and Hiei positioned their canisters on each side of the drawer and readied to pour.

"Copy me exactly," Yusuke instructed. "When I pour, you pour and no slower or faster than I am. I tell you to stop, you stop. Got it?"

"I'm not as thick as your oafish friend," Hiei said. "I don't _need_ repeats."

Yusuke snorted. "Fine. Whatever. Pour."

And Hiei did. He did exactly what Yusuke said to do. Immediately, the two liquids started combining and created a thick, expanding almost-peach-colored foam. They hadn't poured much of the liquids when Yusuke ordered for them to stop. Quickly telling Hiei to put down the can and tossing him a ruler, Yusuke had Hiei stir the mixture to help facilitate the foam's development while he pulled out the next drawer.

They repeated the process three more times, with sometimes Yusuke stirring and Hiei opening the next drawer. With what little remained in the cans, they poured on top of Iwamoto's desk. And then they—Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara—watched the AB foam grow, swell, spread, and expand into a fleshy, fatty, marshmallowy goop that extended over the tops of the open drawers and, in fact, consumed the drawers until the dense foam found no other place but to amass on the floor in thick globs.

Iwamoto's desk was not ruined.

Iwamoto's desk had been laid waste, damned, and sent to a fluffy hell.

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei enjoyed their revenge for the short time that they could afford to enjoy it and made it out of the teachers' offices and the Science Hall. Hiei disappeared from Yusuke and Kuwabara's company soon after that. The two boys were laughing and grinning so much that they hadn't noticed Hiei's departure, and by the time they did, Hiei was already reading on the third floor in the library. Well, reading and trying not to admit to himself that he had liked Yusuke's prank and that Yusuke was possibly an okay guy—when he wasn't smarting off comparisons between him and Minamino.

Because there weren't any.

Hiei huffed and tried focusing on the story, and when he failed to, he replayed the prank over in his mind. He had to admit he couldn't feel sour seeing the scene again and again and imagining Iwamoto's face when he found the grotesque sight.

Hiei smirked darkly and returned to his book.

-o-

It was early in the evening, a few hours remained before the sun would start setting below the forest hills, and Kurama Minamino was having dinner. A Hiei Jaganshi-less dinner. At first, Kurama had thought he had arrived early and waited for Hiei to come and sit at his …well…technically, _their_ usual table, but time went on and Hiei did not show. Kurama did not sit alone, however. His admiring classmates had generously and quite rapidly filled the table.

Kurama sighed. His classmates, quite frankly, bored him. They chatted and babbled and prattled and droned on about him, and sometimes talked about normal subjects, like Kirisawa's upcoming party, but they more often than not talked about him. Why they fawned over him, Kurama had never understood. He knew perfectly well that he was not a normal teen but he was really starting to doubt the normality of his classmates.

As Kurama considered and would consider time after time, his gossiping classmates were uninteresting. At their worst, they were adulating, and they irked him. Kurama, quite honestly, preferred sitting with Hiei. He was interesting, after all. He talked to him. Sort of. It all depended on his mood, but he was getting better. But Hiei was not around. Kurama thought he had skipped dinner until he caught a glimpse of him sitting at another table.

With Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara.

Hiei sitting with other people did not bother Kurama. In fact, he was glad to see Hiei socializing. By all means, it showed improvement. Kurama simply wished that he could join Hiei. Except Kurama was trapped at his table by etiquette.

It was another unforeseen drawback to his day in silence. Unable to speak, Kurama could not politely excuse himself from the table to go over and sit with Hiei. And getting up and walking over would be rude and awkward for everyone and it would not be easy to explain later on either. Kurama had a certain standing among his classmates and he preferred maintaining said standing for his own personal advantages.

So Kurama was stuck at his table. He blocked out the conversations around him—after all, with Kurama unable to talk, no one would engage him or inquire for his opinion. Kurama, quite gladly, returned to his thoughts and his thoughts decided to think about Hiei Jaganshi.

Until the memories of this day proved to be just as stubborn and determined as Kurama was at keeping them covered.

Recognizing his rapid breathing and racing heart as the start of a panic attack, Kurama rose from the bench. Someone asked if he was feeling ill and Kurama nodded yes and quickly returned his tray and left the dining hall.

Trying to distract his mind and stop the panic, Kurama listed to himself all the things he needed to be doing and should have been doing—research, creating review sheets for his tutorial class, completing at least five pages of taxonomy for Father Namame, pollinating the gardenias, geraniums, and carnations to replace what that girl stole. Or Kurama could have been studying or proofreading his essays, or…or…

But he wasn't doing any of those. He was outside and walking the campus walkways with no particular destination in mind, only going on whichever path his steps led him to. Kurama disliked not putting his time to good use, but at least, his idleness had an understandable reason. With all the thoughts he did not want to remember running through his mind, Kurama Minamino found it hard to focus on the things he should be doing. So Kurama walked. It gave him something to occupy his time and attention while he worked on composing his mind and reburied the memories.

It was those memories that triggered his panic attack. And well, being at that table crowded by his fellow classmates certainly helped facilitate the attack. For a boy known for his calm, panic attacks were not something Kurama was used to dealing with. Not since he was six, and even then, not since after what happened on this day. The attacks had finally subsided when he turned seven, with only one flare up when he was nine. His memories had triggered that attack too.

Eventually, Kurama found his composure once more. He was not quite at his regular absolute calm, and he would not be until tomorrow morning, but he was at a presentable appearance. His panic had gone. He could face a classmate with a smile, if one came by. All in all, Kurama was satisfied. He was okay enough, after all, that he could probably get some of the things done that he wanted to, if he did not decide to turn into bed early on account of his stubborn recollections.

But there was still something he had yet to do before he focused on his work schedule or decided to sleep. It was the only tradition he performed in honor of the day's importance. Kurama checked his watch. It was never too late but he wanted to make sure the room would not be crowded and that he could be there alone and left in peace and, according to the time, he would be. And, by fortune, Kurama's walking brought him exactly to where he wanted to be.

Kurama entered the cathedral.

-o-

As he was assured it would be, the cathedral was empty. There were lights mounted on the walls that cast the expansive, lofty interior in a dusty amber glow. Kurama walked down the center aisle, his light footsteps reverberating faintly throughout the grand space. As it always did and should have, the room smelled of smoke and holy incense.

As Kurama had told his disbelieving classmates before, there were still plenty of things he did not know, that he did not understand yet. This was one of those things.

Kurama reached the end of the aisle and kneeled at the steps to the altar and before the crucified Savior. He bowed his head and made the sign of the cross over his body. Then he rose to standing and took a seat on a nearby pew. He sat hunched over with his arms, for lack of a table to place them on, propped by his legs. His hands were interlaced and his lips and chin lay pressed against his steepled fingers. His eyes were closed. Kurama breathed deeply and slowly as he composed his opening thoughts.

 _Here we are, another year._ Kurama began solemnly. _And yet not a word, not a sign, of_ anything. _Everything is the same as it always is, year after year. I do not understand why I do this anymore._ Briefly, Kurama frowned, but returned to a blank expression as quickly as he could.

_I have been faithful, though I know I have faltered, but I have been faithful to You nonetheless. I always come on this day that You in Your infinite wisdom know very well what occurred and I ask and I pray for only one thing, something that is hardly a great demand of You and that I know is within Your power to grant._

Kurama tightened the press of his interlaced fingers.

_But You have done nothing._

_I have taken the possibility that Your silence is a punishment on me, that for whatever reason, I am not worthy of Your reply. My belief wavers heavily, I know, but please realize the difficulty for me to uphold my faith when all my annual prayers go unanswered and when my reason and logic challenges and triumphs my devotion. I do not understand how, if everything is in Your plan, how You can allow horrible things happen to undeserving people and children._

_Before that day, I was faithful. I was pious. I was Yours. And then…_ Kurama staved off the memories from surfacing.

_Now I find it very difficult to believe in You._

_I wish to know so let me understand: How does a_ six _-year-old affront You so that You turn away from him and deny his prayers? Tell me, God, what did I do? What made You see fit to punish me, or test my faith, or whatever reason behind Your actions that You allowed what happened to occur to me when I was a child. I thought children were innocent in Your eyes, I suppose this proves not._

 _You remain silent._ Kurama closed his eyes and sighed. _…You always are. I do not ask for violent action. I ask merely for justice, for retribution for one's actions. Though I have long since by logic come to see this as pointless, I will ask and pray of You once more._

_Let there be justice for what occurred on this day. Let there be justice so that I may have peace._

_Amen._

Kurama sat, waiting, for some reason he did not understand why. He supposed he was waiting for a reply, waiting to hear God's voice boom down and tell him there was a nine year mix-up in the paperwork (blasted interns) and that He never got Kurama's prayer and He was real sorry about the ordeal and would personally carry out Kurama's prayer right then and there, so no hard feelings, kid?

But no. God was silent and, as far as reason told Kurama, He always would be. Kurama waited and he received nothing. He rose from the pew and left. He had not expected to gain anything or ever really foolishly believed God would speak to him. But even logic-prone, analytical, skeptical Kurama was subject to the occasional flight of folly.

Kurama needed the hope that something was being done, and that someone, even if that sole person appeared to be himself, was doing something about the situation, even if that something seemed to only serve to make Kurama feel like he was doing something. Kurama was, after all, trying to fix the problem. Kurama wanted to have some control over what happened and where it was leading him.

Kurama stepped through the cathedral doors and peered up at the starry evening as he decided to walk to the greenhouse.

Still the hope, however foolish, that he might be doing something did provide him with some comfort. And a little bit of hope and a little bit of comfort were exactly what Kurama needed.

-o-

Hiei dreamed.

He lay in blackness, a hazy, grimy, harsh blackness. He was blind in this darkness, as if he saw the world through a thick film of lukewarm tar. From what he knew of his surroundings, he knew through touch. He was on his stomach on an unsmoothed concrete floor that scrapped and cut him if he moved. He was smaller and naked and he was cold. His right side hurt. His legs were bound together.

Hiei buried his face in the crook of his arm so he could feel the warmth of his exhaled breaths. The fleeting heat was a poor relief to the constant chill. Not that the cold did not have its usefulness. While bringing its own particular stings and hurt, the cold numbed some of his aches and pains. It did not take them away but dulled them and the cold forced Hiei to focus on it rather than the other hurts. But the cold and numbness could do nothing for the raw _hunger_ gnawing at his stomach. Yes, Hiei was in pain and yes, Hiei was cold, but Hiei only felt _hungry_.

He heard heavy footsteps above him and then the shrill whine of the door opening. Hiei shut his eyes and laid very still.

The heavy steps came down the narrow, creaking stairs.

"Let's get the terms down, right," the man said buoyantly. "You have something I want. I have something you want. We each have something the other wants. I am willing to make a trade if you are. I will hand over what I have if you first give me what I want. Understood?"

The man's voice was deep and cultured but all his words were slick and forked, like a river of mercury and just as poisonous and liable to madness. Hiei did not respond and remained where he lay and kept his face hidden.

"Want to know what I have?" his tone was only encouraging in the ironic sense. The man waited briefly for an answer. Hiei ignored him. "It's an orange."

Hiei raised his head.

"Quite a sizable one," the man continued. "Nice and ripe. Juicy. Had one myself yesterday. They're quite delicious. Sweet."

Hiei's stomach ached with want. Hiei swallowed the pooled saliva in his mouth. Right now, an orange sounded wonderful. It was a blessed idea. After all, it was food, something Hiei could eat, something he could chew and swallow and put and keep in his stomach and that would stop the pain, the grumbling, the gurgling, and the feeling of little gnashing teeth inside his belly. Hiei wanted to stop the teeth biting in his stomach. He wanted the orange.

The man crouched down and brought the orange closer to Hiei. "It's yours, if you want it. Come get it."

Hiei was hesitant. The orange was close and Hiei could easily reach it. Hiei did not trust the man. Food was something dropped on the floor and left, not presented, not offered. Hiei worried about what the man was planning, what he would do once he reached for the orange. Hiei could feel the man grinning.

But _hunger_ won over fear. Hiei reached for the orange. He touched the orange—

And the man pulled it away. "Ah! But you haven't given me anything yet. Don't you know how to barter, boy?" He laughed darkly and richly.

The man stood and walked a short length back to the stairs. Hiei feared at first that the man and the orange were leaving. Hiei was wrong. The man dragged a metal folding chair across the floor. The chair screeched like a murder of frenzied harpies and grated against the rough concrete. Hiei covered his ears as best he could but the sound penetrated through the gaps in his shivering fingers. The noise stopped only when the man stopped and placed the chair inches from where Hiei lay. The man sat down.

"Shall we get to business?" he asked cheerfully as he tossed and caught the orange with one hand. "Why were you born?"

Not knowing the answer, Hiei bit his lip and said nothing. The man repeated the question. He expected a reply. Hiei gave him the only one he could.

Hiei's voice was small and weak and hadn't been used in quite awhile. It cracked and strained out of his throat. "I-I don't k-know."

The man snorted impatiently. "Not good enough," he grumbled. "Answer me."

"I don't know!" Hiei said louder, the words coming out hoarse.

"Wrong!" the man shouted. And then he sneered, "…You must not really want this orange."

"I do," Hiei replied as he struggled to meet the man's eyes somewhere in the dark.

The man mocked him, "Oh, you do? You want this orange?" Hiei saw the shine of a knife and felt a mist of juice spray in his face as the man cut the orange. The fruit's scent surrounded Hiei and consumed him. It even smelled delicious.

"You want it?" the man snarled. "Then give me a fucking answer! Why do you live?"

Hiei gave him the same answer—that he did not know. Because he did not, but he was beginning to believe there was no correct reply.

Hiei heard slopping noises and knew the man was eating the orange. "Don't know, don't know…" he said through messy bites. "You don't know anything, don't you?"

"I-I…" Hiei stumbled over his words. He had wanted that orange. "I'm hungry!"

"And you're gonna stay hungry 'til you've got an answer! Why do you live?"

Hiei punched the concrete floor. He did not care that he had scraped his knuckles or that he had hurt himself. Hiei needed the pain's distraction anyway—to help him bite back the tears welling in his eyes. He was hungry and he had wanted that orange and now it was gone. Hiei converted his tears into anger.

"To kill you!" Hiei growled back.

The man paused. Slowly he grinned and gave a deep, dark chuckle. "Not bad. Not right, but not bad," the man said, spitting out a wad of pulp onto the concrete floor. "Heh, you're getting closer."

The man reached out and tousled Hiei's hair and then he laughed. His crowing pierced the blackness and echoed throughout the room. The sound stayed with Hiei, even after the man had left. It taunted him and silenced his voice. He was still _hungry_ and the once sweet scent of the orange stank to Hiei. The vile smell was everywhere. It made him sick and, with nothing else in his stomach, he threw up bile.

The sound lingered on in Hiei's mind as he awoke with a jolt in his bed at the Academy. Once again, Hiei was sweating and his heart hammered on. When he had calmed down and finally understood that he was away from that place (and that awful noise was just Kuwabara snoring), Hiei sat upright and shot a glance over at his roommate's clock. The time was 3:48 a.m. It was close enough to five a.m. for Hiei.

Hiei stayed awake.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from a quote by C. S. Lewis: "The safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I do not own Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

-o-

Chapter Seven: The Gentle Slope

-o-

At breakfast the next morning, Hiei was tired. Last night…

Hiei tried not to remember last night. It was better for him if he did not. It was better if he sealed last night away somewhere in his head and scratched it off as one bad nightmare, which was not far off from the truth so Hiei was not lying to himself at all. It was better if he moved on and kept moving away from last night.

And Hiei did. He thought about how he would occupy his time today—well, he wasn't going to Sunday Mass, that was for certain—but all Hiei wanted to do was lay down and sleep. Hiei could not sleep. Sleep meant inviting the possibility of dreaming and dreaming…

Hiei did not have good dreams.

But he was tired. That was probably obvious to others. Or at least when he sat down at Yusuke and Kuwabara's end of the longtable, neither one took much glee in pestering him too much. Either that or Hiei was just too damn tired to care. He wasn't, quite frankly, listening intently to what they said.

"Y'know…" Yusuke said as he began cramming the half a bread loaf of stolen toast on his plate into his wide mouth. "No one knows who trashed Iwamoto's desk yet."

Hiei, sitting across from Yusuke, grunted. Kuwabara, sitting beside Yusuke, glared at the cocksure boy and, as Hiei suspected from Yusuke's yelp of pain, had kicked Yusuke's shin underneath the table. His roommate—cockroaches were easier to evict than the lanky oaf—was afraid of getting caught. Hiei could sort of relate to that. He didn't want to get caught but he wasn't afraid if he did either. And granted, Yusuke's loud mouth was not helping to preserve the anonymity of the culprits who vandalized Iwamoto's desk. Though neither was Kuwabara's reaction to Yusuke's potentially incriminating statements.

 _Fools_ …Hiei thought as he struck down Yusuke's attempt to pilfer his breakfast with a sharp glare and a well-placed fork stab into the reckless boy's thieving hand. _If they only thought about their reactions, they wouldn't get caught._

"Okay. I get it. You're off-limits," Yusuke growled as he nursed the blood droplets breaking the skin's surface. "You can put the knife down and quit acting like you're gonna shiv me."

Hiei put the plastic knife down. He wasn't stupid, though. Hiei kept his guard up and watched for if the slick boy tried to sneak a hand over onto his plate again. Hiei had, after all, saw Yusuke walk the length of a table of first-years and watched him take their unprotected toast. Hence the small mountain on his tray.

"Told ya you'd get stabbed one day," Kuwabara said, smiling and looking at Yusuke all-too smugly.

"Yea, yea, you kept threatening to," Yusuke said as he quickly swiped and guzzled down Kuwabara's unopened milk. "Difference is Hiei _actually_ _did_. Without any lame threats."

"Shut up, Urameshi!" Kuwabara squawked. There was a mix expression of indignation and surprise on his face, the surprise was for Yusuke taking his milk so easily and flagrantly. "Just for that, I _will_ stab you the next time you put your greedy hands near my food."

Yusuke flattened his stare and wore a twisted grin. "You're too slow," Yusuke said and munched on Kuwabara's blueberry muffin.

Hiei had to admit to himself, while Kuwabara continued to argue with Yusuke, that there were some comparable better things to sitting with Yusuke and Kuwabara rather than with Minamino. The entertainment value was one thing. The inevitable fight between Yusuke and Kuwabara that left Hiei essentially sitting alone at the three boys' end of the longtable was another.

That did not mean he liked or was friends with Yusuke and Kuwabara anymore than he liked and was friends with Minamino. Hiei liked no one and wanted to be friends with no one, but circumstances forced Hiei to sit with Yusuke and Kuwabara. Because if he otherwise tried to sit alone as he wanted to, Minamino would sit beside him and between the two choices, Yusuke and Kuwabara were slightly more tolerable than Minamino ever could be.

Kuwabara tapped the table and Yusuke, grinning wryly, released his sleeper hold. Hiei wished he had let him pass out. It would have quieted their breakfast.

"Eat off your damn own plate, Urameshi, and leave off mine. That's all I ask," Kuwabara said, rubbing his strained neck. "Swear I don't get why I sit with you…"

Kuwabara's voice trailed off as he looked across the table and turned to face whatever he saw behind Hiei. Hiei didn't care why. For all Hiei knew, the lack of proper blood flow to the brain was probably stunting his already minor cognitive ability and he assumed he had lost his train of thought.

But when Yusuke followed Kuwabara's suit and immediately glared at what he saw, Hiei had to confess to some small curiosity.

"Hello, gentlemen," Minamino said cheerfully as Hiei's eyes widened in alarm to hearing him. "May I sit here with you?"

"No," Yusuke and Hiei flatly replied.

Minamino's voice was back so it seemed and just as Minamino suspected it would. Hiei cursed twice, once for Minamino always being right and the other for his voice returning.

Even though it was made clear he was not allowed, Minamino sat down beside Hiei nonetheless. He appeared undisturbed by Hiei and Yusuke's curt responses. Then again, Hiei considered, Minamino never did seem bothered by anything. His calm annoyed Hiei.

Not like there was much of an amicable mood between Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara to begin with, but once Minamino joined them at the table, any sort of mood they shared noticeably died. Hiei was angry. He had sat with Yusuke and Kuwabara specifically to get away from Minamino and now the object of his avoidance was once again beside him. Kuwabara did not show much aggravation by Minamino's presence. He mostly kept his head down and awkwardly pushed his eggs around his plate and pretended to ignore that Minamino was directly across from him.

Yusuke, on the other hand, shared Hiei's sentiments. He shot Minamino a long, bitter glare as the boy sat down. Hiei recognized the placid look and the smile Minamino offered Yusuke for having received the same all too many times. Hiei supposed it was meant to calm people, and Hiei reluctantly admitted that it sometimes worked. More often on him than Hiei cared to admit.

Yusuke looked away from Minamino and carried his glare and frown over to Hiei.

"You brought him over here," Yusuke grumbled at Hiei not-so-discreetly-at-all.

Hiei tossed Yusuke a sharp look that demanded to know what the hell he wanted Hiei to do about Minamino and left it at that.

Minamino did not break the silence as so much as gave the silence a few options to take and convinced it that leaving by its own accord in this moment was its best choice. "Yusuke—"

"No!" Yusuke cut Minamino off succinctly. "I'll deal with you when you're the 'teacher' but not this. Get lost, Minamino."

Several nosy nearby students uttered hurt gasps, in sympathy to Minamino, no doubt. Yusuke and Minamino both paid no attention to other students' reactions.

"Very well then." Minamino paused and briefly closed his eyes. When he reopened them, Minamino met Yusuke's glare. "As a friendly reminder," Minamino said in his teacher's voice, "please bring your textbooks tomorrow. It is a new week, so we will be starting a new section."

"You had to sit down to tell us that?" Yusuke sardonically said. "You couldn't deliver the message and saunter vaguely over to your awaiting disciples."

Hiei smirked at Yusuke's answer. Not visibly, of course, but inwardly, he smirked.

Hiei found the exchange between Yusuke and Minamino to be rather interesting. At least he understood what Yusuke was going through. Getting rid of Minamino was so far impossible for Hiei to accomplish. If Yusuke could perform a miracle and get Minamino to leave, Hiei was happy with letting him and seeing on how he could do it himself. In a way, it was fortunate that Yusuke did not seem to care much for Minamino. It was something he and Hiei had in common.

Not like Minamino would easily give in. Hiei knew well how persistent Minamino was. It was something he both reviled about Minamino and also admired. Not outright, of course, just if he absolutely _had_ to admit to admiring anything about Minamino, it would be his persistence.

Both Hiei and Minamino, though his was more respectful, had the flash of a look that read that they did not realize that Yusuke even knew the word 'saunter', much less its meaning.

"Actually, Yusuke, I must admit, and pardon me if I come across not so civilly, that I came over with little to say in regards to you personally," Minamino said, his words contrasting against his gracious tone and smile. "I actually came over to speak to someone else."

Yusuke snorted and turned his head to the side. Hiei heard the tail end of Yusuke murmuring what sounded like ' _…go fuck your—_ ' before Minamino started speaking again, not to Hiei (as he had assumed, for some reason, that Minamino had been referring to him), but to Kuwabara.

"Rather than make it a public spectacle in class," Minamino said to Kuwabara, "I wish to congratulate you in relative private on your perfect test score on our test Friday."

"Uh…thanks," Kuwabara said, clearly uncomfortable, and went back to poking at what remained of his breakfast.

"You did very well, Kuwabara," Minamino continued and smiled encouragingly. "Only one other student made a perfect score like you did." Minamino slid his stare and smile onto Hiei. "Congratulations to you too."

 _Should have failed that stupid thing…_ Hiei grumbled to himself and hunched down into his plain black shirt and gray jeans. _Why didn't I? …Oh yea. I have to pass._

On the weekends, students were allowed to wear their regular clothes and mostly all did. Except for Minamino. He still wore the Academy's uniform. Hiei's shirt was the right size but his hard-to-believe-they-were-once-black jeans were a little small and tight. Hiei wore them anyway. All his clothes were donated, after all, so he didn't care.

"So what… Everybody else failed?" Yusuke said.

"No, Yusuke, they did not. While I am not at liberty to give exact scores of other students, I can assure that most passed, several with high marks," Minamino said. "Yusuke, I advise that you please go over the test material again tonight, seeing as how you will be retaking the test tomorrow."

"What the hell for?" Yusuke shouted, drawing the over-the-shoulder looks of several students around them.

"You failed, Yusuke. That is why," Minamino said matter-of-factly, his hands interlaced and set on the table. "However, I am giving you a second chance. Please take advantage of it and study tonight. If you need help, I would be more than happy to make arrangements to assist you."

At that notion, Yusuke sneered and narrowed his cold glare on Minamino. Minamino remained unaffected and continued his impassive stare. "Or Kuwabara or Hiei can help you, if that is what you would prefer. Keiko already knows you failed once. I would not like informing her of your failure again."

"You had to bring her into this, didn't you?" Yusuke said flatly.

"I want you to pass my course, Yusuke." Minamino either wore a small smile or a smirk, Hiei could not decide which. "So, yes, I did. And if you wish to not be in my class next year, I advise you stop antagonizing my instruction and pass. Be aware that you do not have to like me, Yusuke, but you do have to work with me."

"Like hell, I'm gonna like you," Yusuke mumbled and then said normally, "You done yet, Minamino? Ready to leave?"

Minamino briefly turned around and scanned the cafeteria. "Actually, everyone else's table appears quite occupied. I think I will stay here." Minamino smiled.

"Of course," Hiei said. "Because no one would make room or give up their seat for you."

Minamino did not reply. He kept his gaze angled down toward his plate and wore a vaguely pleasant expression. Hiei didn't know what Minamino was thinking and didn't want to. He tried not guessing what, just like he tried ignoring Minamino and tried not getting caught sneaking glances over at him like he was at the present time.

Kuwabara's guttural racket of a screech broke Hiei's concentration. Hiei cursed. Yusuke had stolen something off Kuwabara's plate again. Hiei didn't know what or cared. At this point if the idiot hadn't learned how to deal with Yusuke's theft, then he deserved whatever he got taken.

Minamino tried to referee. "Yusuke, really, you have plenty on your plate as is. Please allow Kuwabara the remainder of his breakfast."

"Stay out of this, Minamino," Yusuke said, through the wad of food in his mouth.

"Might as well," Kuwabara said to Minamino. "It's just somethin' he does. Just means later I gotta kick his ass harder." Yusuke snorted in disbelief. Hiei wasn't buying it either.

"Yea, yea, Urameshi. Just you wait," Kuwabara said dismissively, as he rummaged in the front pocket of his denim jacket. "Was gonna save this for a snack, but seein' how Urameshi left me with nothin' and I gotta eat somethin'…"

From his pocket, Kuwabara pulled out an orange.

Hiei watched with a wary eye. His heart beat with apprehension observing the orange and knowing what was bound to happen. Memories from last night melted through the mental ice Hiei had frozen them in and old thoughts and feelings began slowly seeping through. Already, his stomach flip-flopped about and readied to turn. Kuwabara pierced the rind with his thumb and began peeling the orange. The scent sprayed and filled the air, striking Hiei.

The smell was revolting. Hiei gagged. He knew and had seen the orange was fresh, but the orange smelled like how all oranges smelled to Hiei: bitter and rotten. It smelled like it had fell from the tree and been left to rot on the ground. Hiei knew what that was like. He had been dropped and left to rot. The scent of oranges reminded Hiei of that, quite blatantly. The man's laughter rang in his ears. Whether he was in the cafeteria or back with the man, it was hard for Hiei to tell.

Hoping the stench would pass quickly, Hiei endured it as best as he could, bridling and wrinkling at the orange's stink, but it was suffocating and the more the orange was peeled, the thicker and heavier the stench became. Hiei could bear it no longer.

Hiei rose from his seat and ran.

-o-

Kurama Minamino observed and raised a curious brow at Hiei's sudden departure and race to the boys' restroom. Kurama noticed Kuwabara, chewing on an orange segment, look over at Yusuke. Yusuke gave a casual shrug and they went back to their breakfast. Neither one showed much concern, though Kuwabara had more so than Yusuke, and apparently Hiei's peculiar rush was not enough to alarm either one. Kurama disagreed with their assessment, though it was perhaps because he had been paying more attention to Hiei than either of them had been.

Kurama excused himself from the table, much to Yusuke's pleasure and wry grin. He followed Hiei's path toward the boys' restroom.

 _I am not the selector of Hiei's associates and he is free to socialize with whom he pleases_ , Kurama thought as he pushed open the restroom door. _But I do wish his said associates displayed more attention and concern for him than they would for a common dish towel. After all, it is not difficult to check on someone…_

Kurama followed the retching noises and paused just outside the third-to-the-last stall.

_…Especially when they may require assistance._

Hiei was craned over the toilet and kneeled on the slate-colored tiled floor. He trembled and clung his unsteady hands tightly to the rim of the toilet bowl. The distinct smell alone informed Kurama that Hiei's meager breakfast no longer remained inside him.

"Shall I escort you to the nurse's office?" Kurama offered, his voice quiet and gentle.

Hiei did not face him. "Go. Away."

Hiei started dry heaving. Kurama waited and stared distantly at the ivory-colored wall. There was nothing Kurama could do for Hiei's gagging but let him deal with it and let it end on its own. It was a long minute of waiting and of listening to Hiei's painful heaving all for him to spit out a bit of bile-infused spittle. Hiei paused and caught his breath.

When ready and steady, Hiei rose, flushed his sick, and walked by Kurama without looking or acknowledging his presence. He approached a sink, turned on the faucet, and washed out his mouth.

"You are not well," Kurama said, stepping toward the sinks, while Hiei grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser, wet it, and wiped off his face. "There are shadows under your eyes, so I know you did not sleep last night. You are tired and pale. You have thrown up. Any other symptoms? Dizziness? Aches? Fever?"

Hiei was not talking to him. Why, Kurama did not know. He guessed out of stubborn pride and an aversion to assistance—like any teenage boy, really, including Kurama, given the proper situation. Being more concerned that he was hiding and fostering a sickness than about respecting Hiei's hard-headedness, Kurama checked for a fever. He placed the back of his hand lightly on Hiei's forehead. Startled, Hiei drew back and struck Kurama's hand.

" _Don't touch me!_ " Hiei shouted, his voice strained and raw, his eyes blazing.

Kurama blinked. He was used to Hiei being inexplicably hostile toward him but not like this. This was something darker, bitterer and unrelated to Kurama. This was deep hate heavily shadowed with fear and Kurama had done nothing to Hiei that would warrant this kind of feeling.

Turning away from Kurama, Hiei clutched the running restroom sink. He was still shaking, his arms the most. Kurama waited and covered his left hand over the red mark on his right where Hiei had struck him. He watched Hiei. Hiei watched the water wash down the drain and, to what Kurama could guess, composed himself.

Hiei at last turned off the tap. He kept his hand on the faucet valve and his eyes down. "You say _nothing_ about this."

Kurama began to protest, "But, if you are ill—"

"I'm not sick," Hiei said definitively. He was still not looking at Kurama. "You say nothing."

Kurama, though puzzled and curious by the request, reluctantly nodded. "Very well."

Hiei finally turned away from the sink. He stepped up and stood in front of Kurama. He met Kurama's eyes. "Nothing, Minamino," he said, deeply scowling, his glare sharply narrowed, and left the boys' restroom.

 _Perhaps he is not becoming ill_ , Kurama considered as he followed Hiei out of the restroom. _But he is not well either. This is all quite disconcerting. Little of it I understand and what I think I do, I cannot be certain of._

Much to Hiei's displeasure, Yusuke's anger, and Kuwabara's indifference, Kurama sat back down at their table. _I know now my game of wills must end or at least the objective must be changed. This is no longer about the trivial control of a class. That game no longer interests me. Hiei Jaganshi himself does. He has proven himself most interesting. I would much rather get to know him, truly befriend him, and learn more about him than continue this puerile playing just to mess with him so I remain in authority in my tutorial class._

Kurama looked down at his plate and noticed several items missing and Yusuke deviously grinning from the side of his view. Kurama ignored Yusuke. He was looking for a reaction and Kurama was not about to give him the satisfaction of one. Kurama's thoughts, in any case, were still centered on Hiei.

_After all, Hiei Jaganshi is a puzzle and puzzles must be solved._

-o-

 _Stupid Minamino, always prying, always meddling_ , Hiei grumbled to himself as he saw Minamino return to his seat beside him. _Has-to-know-it-all-and-does fool._

Hiei toyed with his breakfast so to be doing something. But after the previous ten minutes in the restroom, give or take a few he estimated, Hiei had no appetite. Either fortune favored Hiei a smidge for once or the fool was quick at eating, but the orange—and its stink—was gone.

Hiei snuck a glance over at Minamino. He looked all too pleased. He was smiling, though it was difficult for Hiei to tell at first. It was a small, subtle smile that vaguely expressed happiness and even more hazily outlined determination. Hiei had no idea why or what Minamino was so enthused about. Hiei was still too angry about Minamino being in the boys' restroom and seeing Hiei so vulnerable to consider much else.

 _He saw me,_ Hiei clenched his teeth. _He doesn't know what he saw but he saw me. So now he knows something, or thinks he knows. Even if it's not the truth, I don't want Minamino to know_ anything _._

_He said he'd keep quiet but I don't know. I'll have to trust him and I don't trust anyone. Minamino seems like he'd keep his word, though. Don't trust him to. Why would he? Why would anybody? He could use this information to his advantage. It's probably what he plans to do. That's why he's smiling. That's why he's so pleased._

_He was showing concern. He was only seeing if you were all right. He's only glad to see you're okay,_ said another thought. Hiei silenced that reasoning before it spouted anymore drivel.

 _I wish he hadn't seen me,_ Hiei averted his gaze off Minamino. _Everything would be simpler if he hadn't._

"Hiei…" said Sister Midori from behind.

Hiei turned and scowled at the nun. Today, the people he couldn't stand most just seemed the flock to him. In that case, Iwamoto was bound to pop up. He raked his eyes across the room and searched for the brute. So far no sign of him.

"Hiei," the sister repeated, capturing Hiei's full attention. "After Mass, Father Takenaka would like to have a word with you in his office. Please be there and be prompt. You'll want to be there. Father Takenaka has good news."

Sister Midori left, smiling brightly and practically bouncing in her step. She was too happy. She always was. Hiei was fairly certain her worldview was coated in glitter and colored in crayons—the bright, happy ones to the exclusion of the black, gray, and some of the darker blues. The picture of her world probably always had a rainbow in the background and a grinning sun with a perpetual slasher smile. And too many sugary-sweet, Stepford-smiling children.

In other words, Sister Midori didn't know jack about real life, even less what would constitute as 'good' news. Especially for Hiei. Though she had pronounced herself the expert of what was so-called good for Hiei on his first day at the Academy.

"What you do now?" Yusuke asked, snickering and not hiding his laughter.

Hiei circled back around. He shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"Sister Midori said it was good news," Minamino said, offering a supportive smile. "Hiei is obviously not in trouble. This is something to celebrate."

Hiei threw Minamino a sharp sidelong glare and wordlessly ordered the boy to shut the hell up.

"Maybe the old man's expelling you," Yusuke teased, still grinning.

Hiei gave a brief, dark chuckle and smirked as he grabbed his tray and rose from the table. "I don't have that kind of good luck," he said and left the table.

 _I don't have any good luck_ , Hiei thought as he dropped off his tray and left the cafeteria.

-o-

As soon as Takenaka dismissed him, Hiei stormed out of the headmaster's office. He needed to get out of there. No one was listening to him. He had already screamed himself hoarse at everyone in Takenaka's office and yet none of them had apparently heard him. They were all too busy trying to explain that Hiei had willingly agreed to participate in the track tryouts, that no one forced him, and blah, blah, blah. Hiei did not listen to anything Takenaka, Midori, or the track coach said. Hiei fumed over the news, the supposedly 'good' news they had for him.

Hiei didn't like being at the Academy. This news only made him hate the school more.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Hiei threw open the door. The door collided with a fake potted tree and cracked against the stone wall. The glass window rattled but did not break, by some miracle. The secretary at his meager desk leapt in alarm and dropped his files. Hiei had planned on charging through and leaving quickly. Hiei's plans changed once he saw Minamino waiting in a chair across the room.

"You told!" Hiei stomped across the room, grabbed Minamino by his tie, and pushed him against the wall.

Though the rest of Minamino was still seated and barely affected by Hiei's shove, his head knocked against stone.

"Pardon me, Hiei," Minamino said, wincing in pain, "but I am at a lost as to what you are exactly referring to. I have said nothing personal about you to anyone and what you have asked of me, I have kept to myself. Provide me with clarification and release me from your grip, if you please."

Hiei did not let go of Minamino's tie. After all, if Hiei wanted to, he could pull on it and choke Minamino if he was angry enough to do so and he almost was. "You told about my run. You told Takenaka I was faster than everybody."

"You are mistaken, Hiei. I had no time and yesterday, I had not the ability to tell Takenaka. Not that I ever had the intention to."

"Liar!" Hiei shouted.

"He is telling the truth," Father Takenaka said firmly, standing outside the doorway to the hallway to his office. "Release him, Mr. Jaganshi."

Hiei did so. Minamino gripped the knot of his tie and caught his breath but did so quietly and without any undignified gasping for air. Hiei turned away from Minamino and faced Takenaka.

The headmaster was not pleased. Hiei faced the same unyielding wall, the bold authority that clown Suzuki had faced and crumpled to. The difference between the two boys was that Hiei was not about to cave in and was unafraid to confront Takenaka, headmaster or not.

"Then how did you find out?" Hiei scowled and glared demandingly. "You at least owe me that explanation."

Takenaka did not bend. He remained tall, confident, and in control. It still didn't matter to Hiei.

"First, your manners, Hiei. Rough and disused as they may be, I know you have them," Takenaka needled his resolute stare into Hiei and made his reprimand clearly into an order. "Second, while you were aware of Mr. Minamino observing your impressive run, you were unaware of others also there. Respectively of Sister Midori and myself watching."

Hiei tried to hide his surprise but could not stop his eyes from widening. It was true. He knew Minamino had been there because the boy had revealed himself, but it had never occurred to him that there could have been other people watching. One, because Hiei saw no one else, and two, because he thought he and Minamino were alone.

"We talked with Coach Niigano and he trusts our assessments. He gave you a temporary spot on the team. You will have to redo the tryout in front of him but he is aware of what you are capable of, Hiei, so you are bound to impress and make the team officially." Takenaka lost his stern frown and smiled, "Sister Midori told you this was good news and it is. Congratulations, Hiei."

Hiei sulked. Minamino smiled in similar offer of congratulation at Hiei while he fixed his tie. Hiei sulked more. Takenaka told Minamino that he was ready to begin his review and asked if he would like a cup of tea, which Minamino graciously accepted. Hiei did not hear their goodbyes to him, though they certainly had and only Hiei had not chosen to listen, and excused themselves and entered Takenaka's office.

Hiei left. Not sure of where to go, only that he had to be somewhere else than near Takenaka's office, Hiei exited the cathedral. The day was pretty—warm and sunny and with only a few fluffy cumulus clouds dotting the blue sky. Hiei much rather it stormed, like it had in the middle of the night last night.

Hiei walked. He didn't know where he was going. He wanted to be some place where he could be angry.

…Or think about how he could get revenge on Takenaka for looping him into being on the track team.

Hiei heard yelling. He wasn't about to seek the source out but the shouting just happened to be in the same direction Hiei was walking in. The sound was coming from a back entrance to the Liberal Arts Hall. Unlike the plain doorway of the main doors, the back entrance had a roof covering over the steps that extended over a small archway, flanked with ornate white wooden railing, and lined with securely-hung floral hanging baskets. It was quaint and girls seemed to find it cute.

So there was no surprise to Hiei when he mostly heard a girl's voice, but as Hiei grew closer, he was curious to hear Yusuke's. The girl, Hiei figured, was probably Keiko. Hiei had never met her—he didn't want to meet _anyone_ , after all—but Yusuke had mentioned her from time to time and other people associated with Yusuke brought her up a lot as a deterrent for Yusuke.

From what he heard from Yusuke, Keiko was a bossy she-devil bent on ruining his fun and ordering him go to class. Other people said she was a nice girl, smart, reliable, all-around good-natured, and good for Yusuke. Everyone, including Yusuke himself, said she was the only one who put up with him and didn't know why she did most of the time. Hiei didn't know why anyone would voluntarily put up with Yusuke either. Not without a valid reason. And a head examination.

"Come on. I know what girls like to do here," Yusuke said, flashing a rakish smirk. "How 'bout a little kiss?"

He leaned in and his lips met the block of Keiko's open palm.

"Don't you even joke about that, Yusuke!" she said, irritated, as she pushed back Yusuke's face. "You know that tutors must uphold a professional standing at all times toward our students—"

"Your _students_?" Yusuke blinked. He was taken aback at first but quickly matched Keiko's tone of annoyance. "First, I'm not in your class. Second, you're not a teacher, so quit pointing me off to detention."

Hiei was leaning on the corner, sneaking glances around at Yusuke and Keiko. He was not listening in and did not care about whatever they were talking about. Hiei just wanted whatever they were talking about settled or for Keiko to leave so he could discuss with Yusuke on how to get proper revenge on Takenaka.

"Well, it's true that we aren't teachers…" Keiko admitted, "but we are treated by the same code and ethics as the faculty. Student-tutor relationships are _strictly_ prohibited. And if your big stupid mouth gets me reported, I'll be in serious trouble."

"Can I at least get a hug?" Yusuke grumbled.

"Yusuke, I know how you hug," Keiko said deadpan, "so no."

Yusuke groaned and kicked the railing. He cursed and complained about the stupid school and its stupid rules. Keiko tried explaining that rules do have their purposes and perhaps there was a good reason for the Academy to decree such a rule for students in the tutorial program. Yusuke wasn't listening and, however legitimate his complaints were and how much she agreed with him—indicated to Hiei by her occasional nod in response to Yusuke's reasoning, Keiko grew tired of hearing his bemoaning in time. She asked if they could just drop the subject and talk about something else.

Yusuke conceded. "Fine. Whatever. I won't bring it up again."

"Thanks, Yusuke," Keiko softly smiled. "Truthfully, the language in the contract is pretty vague on whether tutors are only not allowed to display inappropriate conduct with their students or with any student at all. It's just safer for tutors to not date anyone."

"But after you graduate?" Yusuke looked to her and asked.

Keiko's eyes were hopeful and bright and gave Yusuke his answer. "Thought you weren't going to bring it up again," she chided Yusuke playfully as she walked past him. "And what's this about after _I_ graduate? You're going to graduate too, Yusuke Urameshi."

"Yea, yea…" Yusuke said dismissively as he followed behind her.

Hiei gave up on talking with Yusuke. He was happily trailing after Keiko and grinning like the fool that he was. Hiei had heard some of their conversation and now just seemed like the wrong time to ask Yusuke anything, his mind being elsewhere. After all, Yusuke was busy. And after flipping up Keiko's skirt, Yusuke was even more occupied with running away. No wonder Yusuke referred to Keiko as a she-devil. To handle Yusuke, she would have to be.

-o-

Hiei sulked and Hiei brooded. He spent the afternoon in the library using his time cycling between being angry at Takenaka and wanting revenge and letting his mind rest with whatever reading material that caught his eye. In time, planning how to get back at the headmaster grew less and less important to Hiei, mostly due to Hiei discovering in fiction Kurt Vonnegut's _Slaughterhouse-Five_ and becoming steadily engrossed by it. He stayed angry at Takenaka, yes, but figuring out his revenge was suddenly less interesting to him now than finding out what the hell was going on in the book he found.

Hiei was still reading and did not understand what was happening, but the story had drawn him in for good and, since he enjoyed it so far, he figured he would read the whole short book when Minamino decided to disturb his reading.

"So this is where you have holed yourself up…" Minamino said playfully. "A bit public for you, would you agree?"

Hiei usually sat in a study nook in the far back on the third floor, typically. Due to his wandering around in the fiction section, Hiei was on the first floor and at a table in the open. He had only decided to sit at one of the four tables in the center of the first floor because they were partially enclosed by rows of tall bookcases and there was no one in the library today, at least none searching in the fiction section.

Hiei grunted, stared pointedly at Minamino, and went back to his book. He had thought his stare alone would have been enough to inform Minamino that he wanted to be alone but then again, this was Minamino and he was impervious to aloofness.

Minamino asked if he could sit with Hiei and took Hiei's silence to mean yes. He sat down and started pulling out books from his light purple book bag and papers from his school briefcase.

"Due to some minor interruptions yesterday, I am left with a slight bit of work to complete, so if my writing disturbs you, please tell me," Minamino said, thumbing through what appeared to be an incomplete literature essay.

"You're disturbing me," Hiei flatly said, without peering up from his book.

Minamino stilled his papers and looked at him. "Be serious, Hiei."

"I am," Hiei replied, this time lowering his book and meeting Minamino's eyes.

"I am sure you are," Minamino teased and smiled in obvious disbelief.

Minamino went back to his studies. Hiei huffed in annoyance and returned to reading. Sort of. Not really. As curious as Hiei was about figuring out what was with Billy Pilgrim and his being 'unstuck in time', Minamino's presence distracted him. After all, Minamino was doing what Hiei hated most—sitting with him and not talking and looking like he was his friend.

For the next ten minutes, Hiei stared at the same page and pretended to read it three times over while he slipped glimpses across the table at Minamino. Something was different, something was not the same, and it bothered Hiei. Yes, Minamino not paying attention to him or not talking was a major divergence from the norm, but there was something physically different.

 _Minamino's not wearing his tie,_ Hiei noticed.

Granted it was only a small change but Hiei recognized it rather quickly. He had yet to see Minamino wear anything but the Academy's uniform and even then he always wore the full outfit and nothing less, so it was a bit strange to see Minamino still in uniform but without his tie and the first two buttons of his white dress shirt unbuttoned—

And his shirt open wide enough that Hiei caught sight of his bare neck and instantly recalled how a few hours ago he pushed Minamino against a wall and considered choking him with his damn tie until Takenaka stopped him before he did.

Hiei slid down in his chair and hid himself behind his book in guilt.

Hiei felt foolish. No, he was a fool and an idiot. He had been angered by Takenaka and the track coach and left livid and powerless to change what he hated. And when he saw Minamino sitting across the room, he had assumed Minamino had told and made an ass of himself. More than an ass, Hiei reconsidered. Hiei knew he wasn't the most even-tempered person by any stretch and that he was prone to rage before reason and that he would always be that way, but he knew that he had handled himself and situation horribly. He knew that he was in the wrong and that Minamino deserved an apology. A real one.

Or, at least, the best Hiei could muster.

Hiei sat up in his seat and lowered his book into his lap. He didn't like having to apologize. It made him uneasy. Apologizing was hard—it was why Hiei never did. Hiei jumped his eyes from Minamino to different spots around him and back to Minamino in a nervous cycle. Minamino had his head down and his focus wrapped up in a book and continued working, fortunately not noticing Hiei at all. Hiei struggled with finding something apologetic to say and all that he did think up sounded too snarky or like an insult and Hiei crafted insults like Beethoven orchestrated symphonies.

As much as he hated having to say he was sorry and to Minamino, of all people, and there was the fact that he didn't have anything to say yet, Hiei wanted it over and quick so he could immediately start denying it ever happened until he convinced himself that it didn't.

"…Sorry," Hiei said. Minamino looked up from his work confused, staring as if Hiei had yipped like a tiny dog. Hiei was more uncomfortable and fidgety and looked away, unable to keep meeting Minamino's eyes, wide and bright as they were with his surprise.

"I'm sorry," Hiei repeated. The second time was worse. "About earlier."

"Oh, that…" Minamino rubbed his neck and briefly looked away before settling his eyes back on Hiei. "Yes, well… Mistakes happen and conclusions get prematurely jumped. You now know I was telling the truth and are remorseful for your actions, so I accept your apology."

Minamino smiled and Hiei got the weird feeling that all was okay, that he was forgiven. Hiei never thought it would be that easy. He still did not think it was that easy. But, apparently, it was. Minamino went back to his work and Hiei acted like he went back to his book, though really he went back to sneaking glances across the table at Minamino. After a long silence, Hiei had to push the matter.

"It really can't be that simple," Hiei said. "I assaulted you and you're forgiving me? You don't want to hit me or get back at me? I called you a liar."

"Words have power but only on those who deign to give them strength, Hiei," Minamino said, not rising from his essay.

"So no revenge?"

Minamino finished his sentence and laid his pencil down. He met Hiei's gaze and calmly laid his interlaced hands on the table. "First, if I was planning revenge, I would not inform you that I was, you know that. Second, you would never know I was planning revenge. Finally, I will assure you that I have no intention on getting revenge. As mistakes go, Hiei, yours was relatively minor," Minamino paused, picked up his pencil, and pointed it eraser-first at Hiei. "Really, you are blowing things out of proportion." Minamino resumed writing.

"I would know if you were planning revenge…" Hiei said, affronted.

Minamino quietly laughed.

Which only slighted Hiei more. Indignant, Hiei went back to reading, honestly reading. Minamino flashed a tiny smirk and then persevered with his essay. Not for long, however. After a while, Minamino grew bored, or did not know how to continue his essay, and started tapping his pencil eraser against the table. Hiei lowered his book.

Seeing he had his attention, Minamino decided a break was needed and that he would talk. "There is something I have noticed for a while but until now have not felt it was well-courteous to bring up."

" _What_?" Hiei said brusquely, already not liking whatever Minamino dared to say. If Minamino had thought better against asking, then it was probably better not to be asked.

Minamino either smirked or smiled—it was too unclear for Hiei to tell. "Your eyes are red."

Hiei's whole body stiffened in alarm. "They are not." _Shut up_ , he ordered Minamino in thought and in glare. _Don't talk about this._

"Oh? They appear red to me," Minamino definitely broadened into a playful smile. "They are quite crimson, in fact."

"They're not," Hiei haughtily denied, turning his head to the side. "They're brown."

Hiei had expected this exchange to happen at some point. Not with Minamino, necessarily, but with whomever the first idiot was who got a close look at his eyes and decided to point out the fact they weren't normal. It always happened eventually, which was why (well, part of the reason why) Hiei took careful measure to evade eye contact and to never allow anyone close view of the color of his eyes. He hadn't done so well at hiding his eyes at the orphanage. Adults had sneered at him when they weren't frightened. The other kids had called him a freak. Hiei rather not have that old trend restarted at the Academy.

Not that Minamino would call him a freak, at least Hiei didn't think he would. It would be too rude for him, though Hiei did not strike the possibility out. After all, as Hiei knew well, rules of courtesy and consideration did not apply to freaks.

Minamino continued pushing the subject.

"Curious that you would say that since they appear red," Minamino said, quite calm and measured. "Perhaps, I require a closer look."

Minamino rose from his seat. Hiei eyed him warily, his heart beating fast with uncertainty. Laying his hands midway on the table, Minamino leaned in and drew close to Hiei. Hiei's eyes widened, ironically giving Minamino a better view, and he slipped down in his chair. Though there was room between them—Hiei estimated there was a forearm's length separating them, Hiei did not like being this close, despising the intensity and proximity of Minamino's keen stare, and was taken aback that anyone would be so brazen to get this close to him. His reflex was to shove Minamino out of his face, but in his honest surprise, Hiei was left frozen in his seat.

Red met green and green overtook most of all that Hiei could see. Minamino's eyes were bright, though they usually were, and sincere, again usually were. But until he was brought this close to Minamino's eyes, Hiei had never really discerned how _green_ they really were.

And there was something else Hiei had never really noticed before, not that he would want to or need to notice or ever notice again. But it was something Hiei, being this close to Minamino this one time, could not ignore or not refrain from commenting on in his head.

 _He smells nice_ , Hiei realized. … _And it's weird._

Minamino smelled sweet. Not sugary sweet, but sweet nonetheless. He smelled like cherries. Full, ripe, succulent cherries. Summer cherries warmed in the sun and washed in a silky vanilla cream. Hiei could not smell it on Minamino before but now brought near, the scent was strong but not overwhelmingly pungent. The cherries were tart and tangy, the vanilla was fragrant and smooth, and blended altogether the scent was invigorating and intoxicating. Hiei liked the scent.

Hiei only wished it wasn't on Minamino.

"Hiei, I passed Colors in kindergarten," Minamino murmured softly, though there was no one around to overhear them. Hiei saw the top corners of Minamino's lips upturn and knew he was smiling. "Your eyes are red."

One last whiff of cherry and vanilla found its way to Hiei before Minamino sat back down. How ever long Minamino stared into Hiei's eyes, Hiei knew it was not as long as it felt, but Hiei disagreed with his own perception and refused to believe that any ridiculous, trite deceleration of time happened between them. Time did not slow. The library's clocks were just fast.

Hiei, his heartbeat finding its regular rhythm, sat up in his seat and picked up his book. He narrowed his eyes at Minamino. So he had caught him in a lie, a poor one at best and on something Hiei could not really lie about. Hiei realized he was probably wanting Hiei's response.

And the more Hiei thought about it, the more he realized that was _exactly_ what Minamino wanted and had done. Minamino now knew the color of his eyes were a source of discomfort. What he would do with his new-found information, Hiei was uncertain but wished to find out. Hiei did not want the Academy students staring, pointing him out, and calling him names like the orphanage children had. Hiei had been through all that focus before. He did not wish for its return.

Minamino met Hiei's sharp stare and smiled perceptively.

"It is curious but nothing of importance." Minamino paused and picked up a page of his essay. He gave it a cursory examination. "Nothing to make a grand scene over, would you agree?"

Hiei nodded. It felt odd to him to readily agree with Minamino on something, but in this case, Hiei found himself able to. Minamino, after all, did not seem like he was going to taunt him for the abnormal color of his eyes. Minamino did not seem to treat his eye color like it was something worth dwelling on and ridiculing him for. The kids at the orphanage would have certainly disagreed with Minamino.

"Genetics are, after all, what they are, blueprint and roulette." Minamino wrote a few words down and continued speaking as he wrote, "Certain laboratories aside, one cannot control what genes are expressed. What will be, will be." Minamino paused and wrote a little more before delicately adding, "…So it goes."

Instantly recognizing the phrase and having skimmed over it more than once already, Hiei lowered his book and looked at Minamino. "You've read this book, haven't you?"

Minamino flashed an unabashed smirk and snickered quietly to himself as he pretended to work on his essay.


	8. Chapter 8

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

-o-

Chapter Eight: The Inevitable Comes …In Chocolate Flavor

-o-

Kurama Minamino plotted. Mostly during teacher's lectures. Well, more accurately, during the lectures of teachers who took their facts and lessons straight from the textbook chapters he had already read and memorized.

Kurama still pretended to listen attentively and did take notes, using abbreviations and coded memory triggers only he recognized and which also discouraged his classmates, thinking they could slack off and let him cover for their inattentiveness, from ever asking to borrow his notes.

The desperate souls who did always almost immediately returned Kurama's notes and gushed marvel and praise of his genius, which Kurama did not listen to but nodded appreciatively to whatever his classmates said anyway rather than object and instigate praise of his modesty as well. Frankly, he wished there was a courteous way of rolling up his pages into a bat and smacking his classmates on the head when they went on voluble, idolizing tangents of him. Alas, there was not.

But when Kurama did not need to listen to the teacher or had no other assignments to work on or other things to consider, Kurama Minamino plotted. Of lately on how to build a friendship with Hiei Jaganshi. So far after his first week of attempting to gain his amity since deciding the previous week to genuinely befriend him, Kurama's progress had been slow but stable. Kurama had, after all, never imagined gaining Hiei's friendship would be easy or quick.

In some ways, they were already friends. Kurama certainty felt that way, but knowing Hiei, the stubborn and proud-to-be-alone boy would never admit any sort of amiability towards him, or anyone, truthfully.

So Kurama plotted. Knowing it would be a challenging task and that it would be a slow, cautious process, Kurama plotted steps within steps, the microcosm within the macrocosm of his plans. He would act in gradual increments and make leaps only when he felt assured and right and that Hiei would not reject. He would build on forging their friendship but first, he would need to open Hiei's mind to the possibility. He would, hopefully, accomplish that today with the plans he had made at the first of the last week. Though he was optimistic on his chances, Kurama did not underestimate how _difficult_ Hiei could be.

But Kurama liked challenges. And Kurama was patient. And if this idea did not work, Kurama had several more ready to chisel away at Hiei Jaganshi's walls.

-o-

With today being the start of Hiei's third week at the Academy, Hiei wondered if the possibility of improving his negligible future was really worth all the crap he had to put up with: Minamino, being on the track team, Takenaka's authority, stupid assignments, Yusuke's mouth, Minamino, being surrounded by idiots, his roommate, Iwamoto, having to behave, not being able to fight, _Minamino_ …

Hiei questioned why he was acting better than he normally would. So far, the answer was to better his life, but what did that mean? Hiei did not know. Truthfully, Hiei did not expect to have much of a future in the first place, so how could he make an improvement on nothing? What was the point of all this? So some stuck-up university admissions office could see he had graduated from an equally stuck-up school? Did Hiei even want to go to college? Hiei did not know. The thought had never occurred to him before.

 _It wasn't an option_ , Hiei considered as he disturbed the neatly-cut grass on his way to the Science Hall. _Before now._

Hiei supposed he had some things to consider or reconsider but now was not the time. He was already not pleased—Hiei was on his way to Minamino's tutorial class—so he wasn't feeling particularly open. At least the sky was overcast in a murky gray. It quite fitted Hiei's mind-set well and Hiei couldn't complain, not after last week consisting solely of perfect, sunny days and long track practices.

Yes, Hiei had redone the tryout in front of the track coach and he had complied with Takenaka and ran at his best. The coach had been astounded by his performance and immediately placed him at the top spot on the team. So it was official—Hiei Jaganshi was on the track team. The storymongers, eager for fresh news, passed on the information and now the entire Academy knew.

Students were staring at him again and all the old gossip found new blood. Whispers and quiet snickering followed Hiei wherever he went, along with the not-so-discreet comments on just how 'that weird kid was supposed to run on his short legs'. Sacred Heart Academy, bearing its track team's seven-year winless streak with apathy and ridicule, did not have much faith in their winning at all this year either and Hiei's top position on the team just seemed to serve as more fuel for the mockery.

Hiei shoved the left metal front door of the Science Hall open and stamped down the hallway.

He had seen much of Minamino last week, too much time of it spent outside his tutorial class and much of it spent sitting and studying in silence and with Minamino looking like his friend, which he was not. To break up the quiet and make a reason to appear annoyed by Minamino's endless chatter, Hiei talked a little bit, sometimes prompting Minamino with a question and other times relying on trivial topics to coax Minamino into a lengthy discourse.

It did not occur to Hiei until this morning that the more he encouraged Minamino to talk, the less work he completed and thus increased the time he stayed with Hiei to finish his assignments and that all this extra time Minamino spent with Hiei made him look like his friend. But sitting together and not talking also made them seem like friends. The quandary gave Hiei a migraine at breakfast (with Yusuke, Kuwabara, and _Minamino_ ) and the ache persisted even now and added to the foulness of his mood.

Hiei just wanted to get Minamino's tutorial class over with so he could get on with track practice and after that finally be able to hide himself somewhere and be alone for a while. Truthfully, though Hiei would never admit or let it show, track wasn't so bad, in comparison to worse and more annoying parts of his life, say dealing with his not-friendship with Minamino. Hiei didn't like being on the track team, of course, and could list several reasons why he disliked it and that if he had his choice, he would rather not be on the team, but there was one aspect Hiei could find tolerable about track. It was the running. Hiei liked running. More than he ever expected he would.

With the prospect of getting to run off some of his anger and frustration later, Hiei arrived at room 104, entered the classroom…

And was greeted by loud popping noises, and all of Minamino's tutorial class stood in an enveloping half-circle around him. Confetti, glitter, and odd spiral ribbons rained down on him.

"Happy Birthday, Hiei!" the class shouted, their faces bright and smiling.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hiei growled and glared across the room. His eyes stopped and immediately sharpened on Minamino, standing away from the group and leaning with his arms casually crossed over his chest against the teacher's desk.

Minamino merely smiled back at Hiei. His smile was placid, cordial and, from what Hiei faintly detected, was all-too-pleased about the unfolding events.

"Oh, come on, Hiei!" Yusuke said, stepping up, hands on his sides, and grinned gleefully. "Don't start that. We all know," Yusuke teased and smacked Hiei on the back.

To Hiei, the playful smack felt easily like a bolt to the back. Hiei, knocked slightly off balance by the shock, rapidly steadied himself. He would show no weakness, especially to this class of fools and Minamino. When recovered, he scowled at Yusuke. Disgust churned violently in his stomach. Hiei's skin prickled and itched, as if his skin crept with the scratches of a thousand crawling insects.

Hiei took reassurance where he could in the fact a thin layer of clothes had separated him from true physical touch. While he reviled in any sort of contact with another person, on Hiei's scale of aversion and repugnance, being touched through a barrier (such as clothing) was _infinitely_ more endurable than skin-to-skin contact. Unpleasant and despicable as Yusuke's smack was to Hiei, at least it wasn't to his bare skin.

"You know _nothing_ ," Hiei growled and bared his teeth.

"Aww, the runt's embarrassed," Kuwabara said, grinning, as he stood on Hiei's other side and across from Yusuke. "Never pegged you as shy, Hiei."

"I am not!" Hiei shouted as his mistaken flush of anger spread to his cheeks and he slipped away out of Kuwabara's grasp before his idiot roommate could wrap his arm around his shoulder. One unwanted touch was enough. Hiei would not have another.

Hiei pushed through the half-circle, avoiding all potential touch, and broke free of his classmates and their uninterrupted attention on him. If he could have, Hiei would have left the classroom entirely, but Kuwabara's tall, broad-shouldered frame effectively blocked the door from his reach. Second best seemed to be the open space between his classmates' half-circle and the teacher's desk—it at least offered Hiei more freedom and movement but not much defense from their stares. And it meant Hiei was closer to Minamino.

Hiei stood rigid and attempted to control his breathing. He did not like attention. He did not like being touched. Even in the wider space, Hiei felt closed in.

"Something wrong, Hiei?" Botan asked.

Hiei didn't know why she sounded concerned for him. They had never interacted outside of Minamino's class or inside his class for that matter. Hiei just assumed she was the type to worry about anyone in distress.

Which made Hiei realize he was showing distress.

Hiei did not reply. He kept his frown tight and worked on his breathing. He wanted to get out of there. He did not want to stay under his classmates' awkward stares. He wanted to run. But he couldn't. In lieu of that, Hiei wanted something he could focus on, something that could distract him from the attention on him or take away the concentration from him so he could calm himself.

 _I don't care what it is_ , Hiei shut his eyes and angled his gaze to the floor. _I just want this to stop!_

Minamino stepped away from the teacher's desk and stood beside Hiei.

"Pardon, but Miss Eriko was kind enough to provide a cake for our happy occasion. It would be a shame if we allowed her time and effort to be for naught," Minamino said, giving Eriko a nod and a smile.

The nervous-smiling first-year girl bowed her head and put her hands behind her back. Glare on her glasses masked her eyes but could not hide her blush that spread to her full body when Minamino smiled at her.

The influential power of cake took hold of the class and everyone immediately forgot about Hiei and his discomfort and talked and laughed their way over to a table set up near a window. Hiei breathed and restrung his composure. The sudden tightness in his chest unclenched itself. Hiei was less inclined to leaving the room, though the thought remained up for consideration.

Hiei realized Minamino was looking at him. Begrudgingly, Hiei met Minamino's gaze to see what he wanted.

"Surprise parties tend to be unexpected," Minamino said, his tone and usual placid smile not offering any indication of his point. Hiei found his words odd. And irritating. "Shall we?" he added, nodding to the table.

For reasons Hiei himself did not understand, he followed Minamino and stood near the rest of the class. After he had broke out from his classmates' half-circle, Hiei had noticed the extra table vaguely out the corner of his eye but had completely disregarded it. Now brought close to it, he could plainly see there was a small plastic milk crate full of milk cartons from the cafeteria on one side and on the other, paper plates and plastic forks.

But the centerpiece of this table was a large, thick triple-layer chocolate cake, heavy with icing and deliciousness. As Hiei peered closer, he saw the white icing piped out to clearly read, "Happy Birthday, Hiei!" Hiei could tell this cake was completely homemade—it didn't look like the birthday cakes at the orphanage that he knew were store-bought.

Not like Hiei was an aficionado of cake—after all, he could count the number of cakes he ever had on one hand. After his sixth birthday, Hiei stopped celebrating his birthday and never received another cake and Hiei had never joined the other kids in celebrating their birthdays before anyway.

Hiei admitted to himself that he was at a loss, having never expected anything like this to happen or ever had something like this given to him.

While Minamino cut the cake, Hiei found himself the center of attention again. This time was less overwhelming than the first since each of his classmates approached him one by one while the others chatted amongst themselves and did not all focus on him at once.

Eriko stumbled at first and did not raise her head to meet Hiei but she timidly wished him a happy birthday and that he liked the cake. Reiji handed Hiei a hand-drawn card filled with messages from and signed by everyone in the class. Off to the side, Yusuke and Kuwabara audibly kidded about Hiei being 'a year older and not an inch taller'. Botan gave her birthday well-wish and tried hugging Hiei. Hiei stepped back from her and shot her a look of repulsion and warning. He didn't care if he had hurt her feelings. Hiei did not hug.

His classmates around him, Hiei did not understand why they were happy and smiling and wishing him a happy birthday. Half of the class Hiei had nothing to do with outside the classroom but they were being nice to him all the same. As for Yusuke and Kuwabara, situations forced Hiei to be around them when he would rather be alone, but even though they were hardly friends, the way they reacted to him when they thought it was his birthday…

Hiei refused the thought to finish. After all, it was not his birthday, so everything happening around him was not really real. _It's all a lie…_ Hiei reminded himself and gritted his teeth in determination. He would tell and end their charades. "It's not—"

"Necessary. Why, yes, it is," Minamino interrupted, though somehow it did not seem like he had and that what he had done was politely glided himself into the conversation without cutting Hiei off at all (because that would have been rude and Minamino was never rude). "After all, today is a very important day," Minamino said as he plated the first piece.

"Minamino's got a point," Yusuke said wryly through his bitter smile as he sat perched on top a desk. He, evidently, did not like having to agree with Minamino but on this point, had to. He visibly brightened, though, as he met Hiei's scowl and grinned. "Lighten up and have a happy birthday, you jerk."

"It's not my—" Hiei began to say, his voice steadily rising in anger, until Minamino saw fit to interrupt him again—not with words—but with cake. Minamino placed a large bite of cake and icing into his mouth and efficiently quieted Hiei.

Outraged but having no other option, Hiei chewed while he shot Minamino a deep sidelong glare. He wanted to yell at Minamino. Something. Hiei couldn't feel such indignation and not yell. What exactly, Hiei had no idea. The shock of Minamino stuffing cake into his mouth had swept his mind free of words and much of his cognitive thinking.

And Minamino himself did not help matters. Something in his smile and green eyes—warm, pleasant, and sincere—caused the usual aggravated tension Hiei felt around Minamino to double and beat. Hiei didn't know what about his smile did this to him. Could have been anything. Minamino had a talent for pissing him off and that was a good enough explanation for Hiei.

Minamino set the fork on the plate and handed it off to Hiei. Begrudgingly and while obscuring his reddened face from view, Hiei accepted the rest of his cake. Minamino, still smiling and all-too-pleased, turned and started plating the rest of the class's slices.

Hiei gave up trying to convince these idiots of the truth. They weren't listening to him—their mouths and ears were blocked by cake by now—and they proceeded on with Hiei's birthday party and stayed ignorant fools.

And Minamino… Hiei didn't want to think about him. That would only build the tension in his chest and Hiei had enough anger pressing his body already. Hiei had to admit, though, as he readied his fork with another bite of cake…

It was the best damn thing he ever ate.

-o-

After Minamino's tutorial class and track practice, Hiei returned to his dorm room and headed for the showers. Hiei chose an empty stall, quickly stripped down and tossed his clothes on the bench in the small ante-space, and stepped inside the actual shower. Hiei turned on the faucet and shut his eyes as the cool water splashed his face.

Running, of lately, had always took away some of his anger but not today. Even after pushing himself hard through track practice, Hiei did not feel the clarity he usually felt after practice. Hiei was tired but his body felt heavy, not light like it typical did, and he ached, especially across his shoulders. Whatever anger and frustrations he felt earlier, his run did not relieve and the water was not washing them away either. Not that Hiei had expected it to—Hiei only expected the water to clean his body of sweat and stink and nothing else.

Hiei bent his neck down and let the cool water sluice down his neck and back for a while and then plunged his head into the shower spray. He knew the cool water would do nothing to ease his headache but Hiei didn't care—the water still felt good running through his hair and on his warm skin.

Hiei knew the source of the angry weight inside him dragging him down. He knew the solution to freeing himself of it as well. Neither he liked knowing and refused to do what he needed to do to feel better, rather he preferred suffering than facing whom he needed to face and asking what he wanted to ask.

Hiei decided the question would go away on its own or if not, he would bury it later and ignore it ever existed. After all, he knew he could not hold onto this question and avoid being around him. And if he held on, he would have to confront him about it. So it was best to wait and let the curiosity die of its own accord.

Hiei's stomach gurgled and grumbled. Hiei hoped the question killed itself before dinner.

-o-

Kurama Minamino sat in a metal folding chair at a small table and studied while he waited for his clothes to finish drying. Much to his relief and appreciation, the laundry room (located on the first floor) was empty and no other washer or dryers were in use so Kurama was and could be alone.

Pausing from memorizing his history notes, Kurama stared inattentively at the opposite wall, eggshell in color and texture, and thought. He gave a soft sad sigh at recalling dinner and finding Hiei nowhere to be found, leaving Kurama to sit in awkward, hostile silence with Kuwabara and Yusuke, the latter being the source of said hostility and an unrelenting glare at him throughout dinner. Kurama was not sure what to make of Hiei's behavior or how it cooperated with his overall plans. He hoped he had not without knowing pushed Hiei too far.

 _He is one to keep things interesting_ , Kurama admitted and smiled in amusement as he heard the dryer timer inform him that his clothes were done.

Unlike most students at the Academy, Kurama did not have the luxury of letting his clothes wash and dry unattended. If he did leave, even to walk down the hall and back, his wash would be tampered with. Nothing would go missing or be damaged. No, not that at all. What happened was much worse. And far more disturbing.

If Kurama ever left his clothes unwatched, after he finished drying and started folding, Kurama would find clothing that did not belong to him—panties, bras, lingerie, even the occasional set of unfamiliar boxers. Kurama supposed his admirers thought he would be flattered, even attracted to them, but no, that was never the case and whenever Kurama found such clothing, he tossed it into the laundry's lost and found box without another thought. Personally, he found the gesture a nuisance and disgusting. He had considered posting a signed note politely requesting that people discontinue placing their unmentionables in his wash, but Kurama doubted people would consider such a request, even from him, seriously or real.

And so Kurama supplied his own solution: He began guarding his laundry.

Kurama picked up one of his white dress shirts to his school uniform from the dryer and folded it in such a way that would leave no wrinkles but fine creases in their proper places and gently laid it in his circular hamper. He then took one of his normal shirts and repeated the same actions for the same results. Kurama did not mind the repetition—after all, physical repetition required the use and knowledge of the same actions to continuously produce the same effects and knowing what to do and getting the same results suited with Kurama just fine.

He went on folding without much thought, at least on what he was doing. Kurama wondered why Hiei had missed dinner and whether there was a connection, if any, to the surprise birthday party Kurama had arranged. Kurama had no doubt Hiei knew, or at least suspected, Kurama was the organizer. After all, Hiei had met Kurama's eyes early on and narrowed his glare as if he did suspect and Kurama had not acted as if he denied having a part.

 _But given his combative nature_ , Kurama accounted to himself, _I had assumed he would have confronted me before, if not, then during dinner. Instead, he has appeared to withdraw. I may have to happen to come across him before we may have our necessary talk._

 _However_ … Kurama reconsidered as he heard footsteps approaching the laundry room and turned his head to see Hiei standing in the doorway. _Perhaps I am too hasty with my estimations._

And perhaps Kurama was incorrect. Hiei did not appear that he had sought Kurama out and came to confront him. In truth, with the way he stopped in the doorway and stared at the sight of Kurama, it seemed that he had not expected to see him. Hiei stepped back, as if he considered walking away, but quickly decided against it. Hiei entered the laundry room, one hand clutching a black garbage bag slung over his shoulder, and walked up to one of the washers. He ignored Kurama's presence entirely.

Kurama continued folding and pretended to be absorbed in his task while he watched Hiei from the side. He watched Hiei pour the clothes from his bag and shut the washer lid. He watched Hiei put his hands in his pockets and stare at the machine. Kurama watched as Hiei kept staring at the washing machine.

Maintaining his facade of being busy and an impassive expression, Kurama smiled inwardly and waited and watched. Hiei kept staring and Kurama waited and watched until it was clear his help was needed and Hiei could not decline his offer.

"These machines are very simple to operate," Kurama said in a voice that blended in parts of his teacher's tone with his normal voice. Hiei said not a word and eyed him with a level stare as Kurama came over and stood beside him. "The standard cycle typically suffices for most washes." Kurama tapped his finger on the top-left button. "Here is what you were looking for."

Hiei, apparently, still was not talking. He averted his stare away from Kurama and brusquely huffed.

Kurama paid no attention to Hiei's cold show and continued on with his explanation with a smile. Kurama raised the washer lid. "In the future," he said, stepping back to his hamper and grabbing his bottle of detergent, "a cupful of this would be beneficial to your wash."

Kurama first orientated Hiei's clothes in the washer so that the machine could work and spin properly and then poured a cupful of detergent in and closed the lid.

"Your coins go here," Kurama pointed to the slots located at the top of the washer. "And you just press the button I showed you and that is all." Kurama paused and waited for Hiei to follow his instruction.

Hiei did not move toward the washer. He remained standing where he was and peered up at Kurama and shot him a long, emotionless stare.

At first Kurama did not understand what was wrong and then the problem became apparent.

Kurama put in the right change into the washer and, since he might as well, started the machine. "The dryer operates in an identical manner," Kurama turned to Hiei and said. "The start button is even located in the same position. Like I stated before, these machines are simple." Kurama flashed Hiei another affable smile and then went back to his folding and waiting.

Hiei looked away and stared at the timer. Kurama observed from the side and saw the deliberation he went through with his thoughts. There was something on his mind, something he wanted to say, but did not. Kurama surmised it was his stubborn pride holding him back, the same pride that also refused to simply ask Kurama for help with his wash. Kurama also surmised he knew exactly what was on Hiei's mind. It was precisely the kind of thought he hoped and planned Hiei would have. Kurama would wait until he asked. After all, Kurama was patient.

Hiei took a breath, held it, and closed his eyes. Then with a slow release of his breath, Hiei opened his eyes and faced Kurama.

"Why did you tell them it was my birthday?" Hiei asked, his voice part growl.

"Why do you think I told them?" Kurama replied, without looking at Hiei or pausing his folding. After all, he had only a bit left.

"Don't patronize me!"

 _Hiei hostile... Well, now we are in familiar territory, are we not?_ Kurama tipped his chin downward and stifled a restrained laugh. When he raised back up, he faced Hiei's harsh stare and wore an amused expression. "To serve as proof."

"Talk straight, Minamino," Hiei ordered, his frown a fine straight line across his face.

"Very well then," Kurama said brightly as he laid his last piece of clothing into his hamper. When he rose, Kurama put his hands into his pockets and met Hiei's eyes. "It was all a display. For you. To show you that you can have and do have friends. People who like you. People who like being around you. You can scoff at most of our class's cheer, true, but you cannot deny the comradeship shown to you by those who are around you the most."

"You're wrong," Hiei said.

"Oh?" Kurama said as he lifted his clothes hamper and supported it against his left hip. "Do explain."

"I don't have friend," Hiei said. "People just like free cake."

"So that was it," Kurama teased. "A bit difficult to tell with Yusuke and Kuwabara, but you might have a point."

Aside from a grunt, Hiei did not reply and angled his narrowed stare to the side. Kurama walked over and paused in front of him.

"Here." Kurama handed Hiei some change. "For the dryer," he explained and with a quick adjustment of his hamper against his hip, Kurama turned and walked toward the door.

"I would've figured out it all on my own, y'know," Hiei said as Kurama walked away. "And don't expect to get paid back."

"You are welcome," Kurama cheerfully replied without looking back as he left the laundry room.

It may not have gone exactly as Kurama had expected or planned but things had gone accordingly as possible and Kurama knew that he had succeeded. He saw it in Hiei's eyes that he had. Hiei was thinking. Yes, he needed time and space to contemplate and absorb the new thoughts, but the idea was there and Hiei was thinking.

_This new possibility, like a vibrant dye, will spread and color his thoughts a new shade. He will think, he will consider, and he will learn._

_And once he does, it will make my friendship easier to build, now that he knows and accepts he_ can _have friends._

-o-

Hiei did not have friends. No matter what Minamino said. Minamino was wrong and he didn't know anything, to hell with his perfect scores. Hiei had no friends and nobody wanted to be his friend, which was fine with Hiei because he did not want any friends.

 _Comradeship, my ass_ , Hiei thought. _They were only acting nice._

Up in his dorm room, Hiei lay on his bed, one arm on his pillow and cradling his head, and stared up at the ceiling. With his free hand, Hiei fingered a coin, a sole leftover from Minamino's given change, in his pocket. He turned it from one face side to the other, around and around, in an inattentive cycle as he thought.

_They only wanted cake. Didn't matter if it was my birthday or not, which it wasn't. They would've been nice to anyone or anything. It doesn't mean I have friends. …Stupid Minamino, you've proven nothing!_

Hiei lay thinking and brooded. He wished he had left the laundry room as soon as he saw Minamino there but had decided against it because Minamino had already noticed him. And the truth was that the question Hiei had to ask would not leave him and Hiei had seen no better opportunity to confront and ask Minamino than alone in the laundry room.

Not that it made Hiei feel much better after finding out the answer.

The angry weight was gone, yes, but Hiei was still very annoyed. If his anger could take shape, it would be a much smaller creature but capable of inflicting wounds and pain if further provoked. Less like a sleeping lion waiting to pounce, Hiei's anger was now more like an irritated housecat lashing its tail crossly about as it treaded its claws into the good leather couch.

Hiei rolled over onto his side and faced his bedside wall. Briefly, Hiei considered, what with the weight gone, a good evening run would probably ease his old and new anger and frustrations and tire him completely out before bed, but Hiei didn't feel like running. He wanted to lay and rest but not sleep, not until he had no other choice but sleep. Really, Hiei just wanted to be alone.

Which was something his idiot roommate could not pick up on.

Kuwabara sat at the furnished study desk and chair and worked diligently on his homework, oblivious to the fact Hiei wanted him gone. His heavy pencil scratching grated the air and Hiei's eardrums. Hiei ground his teeth in irritation—he didn't know which aggravated him more: his pencil scratching or the coarse sound of his voice.

Hiei knew he could leave—it was the simple and logical choice—but leaving his dorm room meant inviting the possibility of running into Minamino and Hiei _did not_ want to see him right now. So it was best if he remained holed up in his room, even if he was stuck with Kuwabara and the endless list of things his idiot roommate did that annoyed him.

So Hiei lay and brooded. He lay and sulked and brooded and unsuccessfully ignored his roommate's quiet sighs, his pencil scratching, and the rough paper sounds of turning pages. As if to keep himself from yelling or merely to give himself something to do, Hiei continued playing with Minamino's coin in his pocket. Not that he wanted to—it was just…that he _had_ to do something and all he had at reach was the coin. Minamino's coin.

Hiei heard their door creak open and, curious to see who had opened it without even an obligatory knock, Hiei turned over.

Leaning against the doorframe and his hands in his pockets, Yusuke Urameshi briefly met Hiei's glare and responded with his own and a hard frown. After that, he haughtily raised his head and acted as if Hiei wasn't there.

"Where's my money, Kuwabara?" Yusuke ordered, a tight irritation in his voice.

"You're askin' for that now?" Kuwabara said, his eyes widened, as he rose from his seat.

"Yea, I am. Gotta problem?" Yusuke said, narrowing his stare as he stepped into Hiei and Kuwabara's room. "You lost the bet, now pay up. Gimme my money."

Granted Hiei didn't know the details and didn't want to know, but something wasn't right and didn't make much sense with the way Yusuke was acting, that there was something off to Yusuke's anger. It was as if Yusuke's anger had nothing to do with why he was here…

 _Not my problem. If he wants to be pissed off, let him be. I don't care. I don't have to. I have no friends._ Hiei turned and faced his wall again.

"Fine, Urameshi," Kuwabara sighed and rummaged through his pocket. "Geez, what's your problem? Keiko give ya an earful?"

"Shut up and hand it over," Yusuke said, snatching the crumpled yen from Kuwabara's hand.

Kuwabara blinked at Yusuke's curtness. "Seriously, Urameshi. What's eatin' you?"

"Nothing," Yusuke replied as he further wrinkled the money stuffing it in his pocket and turned to leave.

Just as Hiei expected Yusuke to slam the door shut and after hearing no noise, Hiei threw a glance and saw Yusuke put his hand on the doorframe and stop. Yusuke stood for a moment, his jaw clenched, thinking and ignoring Kuwabara, before he tightened his hand into a fist and pounded it against the frame. Yusuke circled around, his face hard, his eyes bitter, and stared at Hiei.

"How long you been?"

"How long I been what?" Hiei repeated as he sat up in bed and swung his legs over the side to sit on the edge.

"Buddies with Minamino."

Instinctively, Hiei scowled. "I am not friends with him."

"Liar," Yusuke said as he swaggered toward Hiei. "I was nice in class 'cause it was your birthday but afterwards I started thinking… I've been whoopin' Kuwabara's ass since kindergarten and I still don't know his birthday."

Yusuke shot a look at Kuwabara and Kuwabara reluctantly nodded, verifying his words, much as he didn't like admitting to Yusuke beating him.

Yusuke threw his harsh stare back on Hiei. "So how in the hell does Minamino know yours if you aren't close?"

"He doesn't," Hiei replied. "It wasn't my birthday. He lied. We. Aren't. Friends."

"Bullshit, Hiei," Yusuke sneered. "He fed you cake."

Hiei bolted from his bed. He stood tense and with his clenched fists shaking at his sides. "He didn't _feed_ me! He _shoved_ cake into my mouth to shut me up."

"Why?"

"To keep me from telling everyone it wasn't my birthday." Hiei paused and in that pause, Hiei remembered what Minamino had said, _'Second, you would never know I was planning revenge'._ Minamino's quiet laughter afterwards did not seem to sound so sly then as it did now.

Hiding his surprise, Hiei stared down at the floor and said, "It was a ruse, a prank. …Revenge."

But Minamino had also said he wasn't planning on getting revenge on Hiei for assaulting him. _Minamino's capable of lying,_ Hiei thought as he raised his head and met Yusuke's sight again. _He's proven that already._

"Shitty revenge, don't you think?" Yusuke narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "You don't bake cakes for guys you wanna get back at, Hiei. You think I'm retarded? That I'll believe that bull?"

"Believe what you want," Hiei scoffed as he grabbed _Frankenstein_ from his school briefcase. Not caring what other stupid things Yusuke had to say, he pushed past Yusuke. If he couldn't be alone here, he would find some other place. …And Minamino ought to be smart enough to let him be.

Yusuke circled around and faced the open doorway and Hiei. "Behind the gym, I believed you. I believed you weren't friends with Minamino. But I see now. You're not tough. You're not badass. You're like everyone else."

Hiei stopped in the hall just outside the doorway.

"—adoring our precious, polite, _perfect_ Minamino blind to the fact he's just an overblown, stuck-up, ass-kissing nerd! All this fawning over him makes me _sick_. I hate Minamino and anyone who caters to him. I never will. And I thought you didn't either."

Hiei glared over his shoulder and said, "I don't. I'm not his friend."

"Like I'm gonna fucking believe you," Yusuke snorted. "Go on! Go be teacher's pet!" Crossing his arms over his chest, Yusuke began turning back around. "Be like everyone else and suck his c—"

Hiei carefully tossed the library's _Frankenstein_ onto the carpeted hall and stormed back into his room. Hiei grabbed Yusuke's arm, spun him back around so he faced him, and hooked Yusuke's jaw with a hard right. Yusuke stumbled back, his shock brought on more by Hiei's sudden hit rather than the hit itself, but quickly recovered and threw his own left cross.

And then it was on.

-o-

Arms crossed defiantly over his chest, Hiei sat in the headmaster's office in the arched-backed chair in front of Takenaka's desk and smirked proudly at himself. His bottom lip was swollen, there were several thin scratches on his left cheek to his neck, and there was a large bruise right above his right eyebrow. His head ached and more than likely there was a bump from where Yusuke cracked him against the door but Hiei got back at him later on for that by putting his head through the wall.

Kuwabara had protested rather quickly and understandably, Hiei supposed, given the close-quarter nature of the dorm rooms, but even his loud and abrasive voice had gone unheard in Yusuke and Hiei's deafening flurry of curses, insults, and incoherent yelling. Kuwabara had tried breaking them apart but a not-so-rogue back-elbow from Hiei had laid him out cold at some point. It was only after their neighbors had alerted their house advisor, Sister Midori, and she came with half-a-dozen Academy security guards were Yusuke and Hiei ever successfully separated.

All in all, Hiei felt pretty good and was happy about the fight.

Father Takenaka was not.

The headmaster stood in front of the large window overlooking the center of the campus with his back facing Hiei and his hands placed in front of him. He had been standing there since Hiei first arrived in his office and had yet to say a word, not even to acknowledge Hiei when entered his office or offer him a cup of tea. Hiei had no doubt he knew he was there. The mood in the air alone told him that.

Father Takenaka put his hands behind his back. They were tightly bunched.

"It should go without saying but I will so as to make it absolutely clear to you, Mr. Jaganshi," the authoritarian Takenaka said and continued gazing out the window and into the late evening blackness. "I am disappointed in you. I am cross and I am disappointed."

Hiei didn't really see why. After all, Father Takenaka knew Hiei's record, he had told Hiei himself he knew, so it couldn't have been that much of a letdown when he found out about his fight.

"I had faith in you. And you were doing…better," Takenaka said, with a sigh. "Explain to me, Mr. Jaganshi. Was hitting Yusuke Urameshi really worth potentially losing everything you have gained here at the Academy?"

Hiei quirked an eyebrow. _What I've_ gained? "Yes," Hiei replied.

"I should expect such a response," Takenaka said as he circled around and faced Hiei. His eyes, though strict, contained, to Hiei's surprise, compassion behind the severity as the headmaster regarded Hiei and wore a tight frown. "You realize you have given me little choice."

"You're expelling me?" Hiei said, trying not to sound hopeful.

"No," Father Takenaka said.

Hiei slipped down in his seat and scowled.

"But I am afraid I must place discipline on you where discipline is due," Takenaka said as he moved to stand in front of his desk. "As I have said, you have given me little choice. Frankly, as I have been and will remain with you, I do not wish to ever have the need to discipline you but where I must, I will."

"So?" Hiei flippantly said.

"Manners and respect, Hiei," Takenaka said sternly. "Do not add to your already serious offenses."

Father Takenaka shot Hiei a strong, serious eye. Hiei fought a bit before he begrudgingly muttered, "Yes, sir."

"In situations such as these, parental notification and involvement is required but seeing how that is not applicable in your case…other disciplinary actions must be utilized."

"You're going to hit me, sir."

Takenaka's frown upturned into a soft smile. More compassion than sternness shone through his eyes. "No. While the headmaster does have the power to use corporal punishment as a disciplinary action, it is my belief that such a means is neither necessary nor an effective form of correction. If I can prevent taking that course, I prefer to never strike any student." Father Takenaka tipped his chin downward, fixed his stern-but-sympathetic gaze on Hiei, and warned, "Do not ever force me, Hiei. It would hurt us both greatly."

Hiei nodded. Father Takenaka raised his head and briefly smiled.

"For fighting, our school policy does state that you should be expulsed from the track team or at least barred from participating," Takenaka said and at hearing that, Hiei gave his full attention. "…But I see more benefit in keeping you on the team than off. I have talked with Coach Niigano and he has agreed to my request and will permit you to race in the upcoming meet."

Hiei leaned back in his seat, tightened the cross of his arms, and sulked at the unfortunate news. Luckily, his bottom lip was so swollen Father Takenaka couldn't probably tell he was pouting. Hiei himself didn't want to know he was pouting.

"I have made much deliberation in how you will be disciplined and this is what I have decided. First, you will apologize to Yusuke Urameshi for fighting with him and to your roommate, house advisor, and your neighbors for being a disturbance and making a scene," Takenaka said, silencing Hiei's protesting with a firm stare. "I assure you that Yusuke will be making his apologies alongside you."

"Second, you will serve a daily detention, and that includes weekends, until you have worked off and paid for the damages you caused. That hole in your wall will not fix itself, Mr. Jaganshi, and since you have no parent or guardian to compensate your damages, _you_ must be the one held responsible and provide repayment. In the future, I hope you take that into consideration before rushing headlong into recklessness."

"Okay, I break anything, I buy it. I get it," Hiei said derisively, as he rose from his seat. "Are we done, sir?"

"I know it is getting late, but I am almost finished, Mr. Jaganshi. _Sit_ ," Father Takenaka said.

Hiei sat.

"The final retribution I will order of you will be this," Father Takenaka made his way to his seat, sat, and rested his interlaced hands atop his desk. "You must spend all of tomorrow, and that means the entire day, in the Tower. Sister Midori will wake you at six a.m. and escort you inside."

 _Sister Midori… First thing in the morning?_ Hiei made a quiet growl. _She sings, she gets a tracheotomy._

"Have I made myself clear, Mr. Jaganshi?" Father Takenaka said. For the second time, apparently.

Hiei snapped back to focus and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Very well. From now on, I do not want any more trouble out of you, Hiei. Especially fighting. No more, understand?" Hiei nodded again. "Good. Now I strongly advise that you head straight back to your room and turn in for the night. Given it is past ten-thirty, I see you having no problem following my suggestion. Goodnight, Hiei."

Having nothing more to say to the headmaster and simply glad to finally be dismissed, Hiei rose from his seat without replying and, ignoring the headmaster's kind smile, left Father Takenaka's office.

-o-

The sleeping lion form Hiei's anger sometimes took no longer needed his anger to appear. The lion was in his stomach now and it was awake, grumbling and growling and _hungry._ Hiei wished he hadn't skipped dinner. He wished he had gone and ate and ignored Minamino and crushed the question of why Minamino had told the class it was his birthday any time it tried to be asked. But he hadn't and Hiei was hungry.

Following Father Takenaka's strong suggestion, Hiei was back in the dorms and almost to his room. Hiei noticed right off that his library copy of _Frankenstein_ was missing from where it had left it on the hallway floor. Hiei dug his fingernails into his palm. Even if it was in the hall, no one had the right to pick it up and take it—it was still his book, after all.

Hungry and now angry, Hiei just wanted to throw himself onto his bed and let the night end. Hiei hoped, along with just about every night, that _tonight_ would be the night he dreamed lucidly so he could beat the man's ass. (Those were false hopes, however, and Hiei knew they were. The dreams he had of the man weren't dreams at all but memories and Hiei could not control memories. Hiei would know what _really_ happened, in the end, after all.)

Finding his room door locked, Hiei dug out his key and opened the door. Hiei found Kuwabara snapping awake as he stepped inside. The oaf was still sitting at the desk and had been studying, though from the wet notebook briefly drool-plastered on the side of his face, studying had not been his sole accomplishment.

"Oh, you're back?" Kuwabara said, quickly wiping off the river of saliva on his sleeve. "How things go with the old man?"

Hiei faced his back to Kuwabara and started unbuttoning his white dress shirt. He did not deign himself to answer. It wasn't Kuwabara's business to know.

As Hiei stripped down to his black boxers and a sleeveless white undershirt and threw his school uniform onto the floor, a familiar font caught his eye. Hiei turned his head and, to his surprise, saw the library's _Frankenstein_ resting comfortably on the middle of his bed.

No other source of information present, Hiei turned to Kuwabara. "Where did—"

"Minamino," Kuwabara said. "Came by after Sister Midori and security hauled you and Urameshi off to Father Takenaka's. Not because of the fight. He seemed surprised yet not when I told him what happened. He found the book, picked it up, and laid it there. Did it odd, though. He treated the book as nicely as he would a person. Kinda like you," Kuwabara flinched at first sight of Hiei's massive glare "…if you were nice to people."

" _Anyway_ …" Kuwabara said, once his shuddering stopped after Hiei's glare shrunk back to its usual intensity, "the whole reason he said he came by was to give you that. Said he thought you'd be hungry, missin' dinner and everythin'."

Hiei followed Kuwabara's nod and saw laying on his pillow and protected in plastic wrap the rest of the chocolate cake. Hiei didn't argue with his stomach. He threw himself onto the bed, grabbed the paper plate, removed the plastic, and dug into the chocolate slabs—Minamino had provided a plastic fork, of course.

"There's two pieces there, y'know…" Kuwabara said. "Big ones."

The look Hiei shot made Kuwabara retract and deny he had ever implied he had asked Hiei to share.


	9. Chapter 9

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I do not possess the rights to Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

-o-

Chapter Nine: Why Do You Want To Be Friends?

-o-

 _I am no idiot_ , Kaitou thought, as he lay awake in bed in the dark and frowned at the ceiling. It was very early in the morning or very late into the night. Kaitou didn't bother checking the alarm clock to confirm which, but he knew it was several hours before his and Minamino's agreed six a.m. alarm would go off.

_Was it all a show? A ploy to make me think he was overtaxed? Minamino does seem to have fully recovered. He has shown no similar sign of weakness and continues his many obligations and maintains his perfect scores. But why would Minamino need to pull such a feint? For what reason would he?_

Kaitou closed his eyes, unconcerned about falling back asleep. His mind was sprinting and casting and weaving thought strands at such a rapid pace, rest was impossible.

 _Minamino is not being truthful with me. He is not lying to me either. Not outright,_ Kaitou ground his teeth in frustration. _He is evading my questions. He is masterfully circumventing me at my every try! And even though I know his tricks, he still manages to slip past me and keep me unwise._

Kaitou turned his head to the side and, though it was difficult for Kaitou to see in the dark and without his glasses, he glared at his roommate and yet-for-now-unsurpassed rival's back. Minamino was asleep, of course. Perfectly still and perfectly silent.

_I hate you, Kurama Minamino. And not just because your scores best mine every term._

_You are…insincere. You do not lie but you never tell the truth, do you? You say only what others want to hear. You twist conversations to your advantage. You pretend and cover yourself with smiles and charm everyone you meet. You let no one know the true you. I have been fortunate to catch a glimpse of the hidden Minamino and I am resistant to your flattery and I am more intelligent than the majority of the Academy. I know now that you wear a mask, because I have glanced at the face beneath._

Kaitou sat up in bed. A frown joined his fixed stare on Minamino.

_I will find out, Minamino, what you are hiding from me, what you are hiding from us all._

Kaitou reached over toward the desk and fumbled around blindly for his eyeglass case. He swore he remembered placing it within easy reach. Kaitou leaned across more and slipped his hand farther and farther down the desk. _This is ridiculous_ , Kaitou grumbled. _Why would I have laid my glasses closer to Minamino than to myself?_

Kaitou breathed a muted frustrated sigh and stretched his arm out a little more. Practically tipping himself out of bed at this point, Kaitou considered simply getting up and searching that way—and maybe turning on the light just to wake and irritate Minamino. With his luck, his case was probably out in the open just not in reach.

And then Kaitou found something.

It felt cool to the touch but it was the cool touch of leather, not his sleek metal eyeglass case. And it was too large and too thick. It was obvious to Kaitou he had not found his eyeglass case. He quietly slid his discovery across the desk. After a quick tactile investigation, Kaitou knew exactly what he had found.

_I have Minamino's planner._

Kaitou smirked gleefully. He wanted to chuckle in his throat in triumph but stifled the urge. He could not now, after all, risk waking Minamino.

_Well, well… Fortune smiles upon me again, eh Minamino? Though I highly doubt your planner will yield many deep, dark secrets, it will reveal to me what exactly caused your strange little fit a few weeks ago. That is a start, after all, to exposing who you are._

Carefully and with the barest sound, Kaitou opened the snap.

_Hmm… Bit of a quandary here. What good it is to peruse the pages of Minamino's planner if I cannot see what is written? Damn, I have to find my glasses._

Kaitou carefully rose from his bed and, as the springs creaked under his lessening weight, winced and watched Minamino. Thankfully, Minamino did not wake. Kaitou breathed a silent sigh of relief and felt for his eyeglass case all around the desk. It was nowhere to be found. It was neither laying in the chair nor on the windowsill.

 _Ridiculous! I know for a fact I placed my glasses on the desk before I went to sleep. They should be there!_ Kaitou swiped his hand across the desk. _…But they are not._

Kaitou stood glaring and sneering at Minamino. _Lucky for you, isn't it, Minamino? Convenient that the one time you lay out your planner is the one time I misplace my glasses. You enjoy mocking me? Of course, you do._

Minamino turned over. Kaitou froze in alarm. Realizing he still had Minamino's planner in hand, he quickly hid it behind his back. He was certain Minamino had noticed. No gesture that blatant would go past Minamino's eyes unseen.

Kaitou waited for Minamino to speak. Minamino did not speak. Minamino breathed softly for a bit before his breathing turned perfectly quiet again.

For a moment there, it really had seemed like Minamino was awake, that he had been listening in on Kaitou's thoughts the whole time and just now had decided to casually turn over and make a reply. But that was not the case. Minamino was still perfectly asleep, having perfect dreams, no doubt.

Kaitou calmed his breathing and steadied his hand over his jumped heart. _I can't keep it._

Kaitou stared at Minamino's open planner resting in the palm of his hands. In the darkness of the room, the pages were black and so was Minamino's handwriting. Kaitou slid his fingers across the notes in feeble attempt at recognizing any kanji, hiragana, or even katakana by touch. He felt nothing. _Damn it! I hate giving up this opportunity._

… _But I have no other choice._

Begrudgingly, Kaitou replaced the snap and laid Minamino's planner back on the desk. He did not want to. He was the furthest possible extent from wanting to give up Minamino's planner. He was letting go of a lead—in truth, his only. For right now. Definitely, it was his easiest. Grumbling to himself, Kaitou turned back toward his bed to gripe of his unfortunate and plainly inauspicious situation about Minamino. Eventually, his complaining would yield to planning.

But then Kaitou's foot hit something underneath his bed.

He crouched down and found his eyeglass case beneath the bed. It was not an odd location to find them. Actually, when he went to sleep, he habitually placed his glasses just slightly beneath his bed all the time and very rarely left them on the desk. Though Kaitou was sure he remembered putting them on the desk, it was possible he might have laid them under his bed.

However, right now, the circumstances of where his glasses had been did not matter. What did was that he could read Minamino's planner, that he could begin the exposure of the real Kurama Minamino. _But even with my glasses, it is still too dark to see._

Kaitou smirked and shook with anticipation. Quickly, he slipped on his glasses, twisted around from the waist, grabbed Minamino's planner off the edge of the desk, and…

Found Minamino staring at him.

Kaitou gave a startled shout and fell backwards, his head landing and bouncing roughly off the chair's solid backing.

"You are awake as well, Kaitou?" Minamino said sleepily, as he sat up in bed with the particular unrushed grace of an apathetic aristocrat and swept a few stray strands—his only imperfection caused by his rest—away from his eyes. "Forgive me, I did not mean to frighten you."

Kaitou said nothing. He tried utilizing the darkness to hide Minamino's planner by pressing it against the large shadow of his chest. _Do not let him see it. He cannot know._

"Would it be possible for you to care to inform me as to why it appears you have my day planner in your possession?" Minamino asked, his eyes watching Kaitou closely.

_Shit._

"Oh?" Kaitou faked his mild surprise and put on a placating smile. "My apologies, Minamino. I thought it was a book of mine I had left out on the desk. Difficult to tell in the darkness." Kaitou held his sarcasm down and jerked back the sneer that quite desperately to the point of suicide wished to display itself on Kaitou's face. He had barely succeeded.

"You were mistaken," Minamino said in an even voice and held out his hand. His eyes had yet to divert from Kaitou.

Begrudgingly, though he did not show it, Kaitou handed Minamino's planner back to him. Minamino rose from his bed, put his planner inside his school briefcase, and buckled it. And while Minamino did that, Kaitou slid back into bed and before he removed his glasses caught a glimpse of the time. It was 4:44 a.m.

Minamino too was quickly back in bed. He lay facing the wall, his back to Kaitou again, and pulled his covers close around himself. Kaitou lay with his eyes shut and waited. A few minutes passed and Kaitou heard Minamino breathe softly and then not at all. He was perfectly asleep again.

 _Some people have all the luck,_ Kaitou grumbled and turned over onto his side and faced his wall and the long wait for their alarm. He did not try to go back to sleep. There was no point in trying. Unlike Minamino, it took Kaitou at least an hour to fall asleep. The hassle wasn't worth the measly fifteen minutes he might or might not fully get.

Besides, Kaitou could use the time and the quiet. He needed to think. He needed to plan. Extracting hints of the truth out of Minamino himself would not be easy. He would have to outwit him and, failing that, outweigh him in cunning and trick him into leading Kaitou to possible clues.

 _I am no idiot_ , Kaitou thought and frowned bitterly.

… _And neither is Minamino._

-o-

Hiei was, of course, already awake and had been for some time by the time Sister Midori rapped on the door. Hiei sat in the middle of his bed in pre-dawn darkness and listened to the young nun's light knocking. He waited for her to figure out the door was unlocked and that he had no intention of answering her.

For his roommate's sake, Hiei supposed, she tried to be quiet but her incessant pecking had ended up waking Kuwabara up nonetheless. Finally, the thought bubbled in her giddy head to check the doorknob. She apologized as she tiptoed in and apologized again to Kuwabara as he partly rose up in bed and attempted to place the dark shape and voice to someone he knew. Whether he figured who it was, Hiei didn't know or cared. He did hear his idiot roommate slur out something in his half-sleep along the lines of that he 'didn't mind and was about to get up anyway' before his gravel voice faded out into an unintelligible groan and his body fell back against his bed.

Sister Midori faced Hiei. "Shall we?" she said, her voice hushed but not lacking its usual sunshine.

Already she was too overly bright for Hiei's patience and he was not feeling particularly open. Biting down the instinct to snap at her, Hiei slipped out of bed and grabbed his library copy of _Frankenstein_ from his open school briefcase.

Midori took the book away from him at once. "Ah, sorry. You are not allowed to take anything with you, I'm afraid," Sister Midori said as she tossed the book back on his bed. "This is a punishment, after all."

Hiei scowled at her and grumbled underneath his breath. For one thing, he didn't like being told no, and second, he didn't like Sister Midori touching anything of his. _The way to this Tower better be short_ , Hiei thought, clenching his teeth tightly to keep from yelling at her.

"Come along now," Sister Midori said and idiotically motioned him to follow, as if he did not already know she was his guide.

The entire way Hiei trailed behind Sister Midori. He refused to walk beside her, in chance she might attempt miserably to talk to him. Despite it being the first week of May, the air this very early morning was chill. Hiei crossed his arms over his chest in anger and for warmth.

If it was not for Takenaka's discipline this morning, he would probably be running in this air. Not with the team. No, the track team ran together every morning around the campus in the name of unity and team spirit. Hiei thought it was a stupid reason to go out running for. Fortunately for him, the track team's morning runs were not mandatory, though the coach did praise the practice.

No, Hiei ran through the woods. A short run, one long enough to wake him up and ease off his anger. The forest, after all, was quiet, calming, and the paths were more interesting and unpredictable than concrete walkways. And the fact that entering the forest was forbidden to all students added a bonus of solitude and defiance Hiei could not pass on. All along the way behind Midori, Hiei eyed the forest and entertained the idea of dashing off into the woods. It wasn't as if Sister Midori would be fast enough to catch him.

Hiei quirked an eyebrow as they reached the cathedral. At first, he suspected they were stopping for a quick first of the morning lecture from Father Takenaka, but to his surprise, they passed the doorway to the stone steps to the Headmaster's Office and instead entered a door to the left leading to a spiraling staircase. Passing by floor after floor, Hiei followed Sister Midori and her flickering candlelight up the seemingly never-ending steps. He shot a glance over at each small stained glass window depicting scenes of medieval villagers repenting or living a good Christian life leading into depictions of angels and God up in heaven.

 _Rather blatant representation of a stairway to heaven_ , Hiei grumbled to himself. _Well, what with their cathedrals, ostentatious crosses, and everything possible gilded and bejeweled, Catholics aren't exactly known for making a subtle statement, I suppose._

"Where are we going?" Hiei asked, growing bored and when Hiei was bored his patience greatly thinned. "Where is this 'Tower' you're supposed to be taking me to?"

"It is not far, Hiei," Sister Midori assured. "You are, in fact, in the entrance of the Tower. It is a part of the cathedral. The left steeple, to be exact."

The stairs came to at last an end, not a second too soon in Hiei's opinion, and Sister Midori opened the thick, heavy, old wooden door. The room inside was not very large and every inch was coated in a clear film of dust. On the opposite side of the room was another old heavy wooden door, this one with a thick, iron bolt lock.

"You will be staying in here," Midori said, as she unbolted the squeaking lock.

Hiei slowly stepped into the other half of the room. It too appeared rarely used and dusty. To Hiei's immediate left was a made cot, the same sort as in the dormitories. The sole other furnishings was a tiny desk and chair. There was a large window, which even from Hiei's position standing just inside the doorway gave an open view of the campus. If Hiei stood at the window, he knew he could probably gaze up all along the main walkway and see all the way to the Academy's entrance gates.

Hiei smirked inwardly as he outwardly wore an impassive gaze at the bleak gray padded walls. Sister Midori, apparently refusing to go no further inside the little room than the door, picked up on his fascination and explained.

"There once was invalid, a headmaster's mother who required special care. This room was built for her, with safety precautions placed in mind. Most of those precautions, the restraints and such, have been removed. All that remains are the walls and the door. This room is now used to hold a student in confinement for a set number of days, a form of suspension, so to speak. Meals will be brought to you and you will be given restroom breaks, though if you need more, you need only ask. If not I, then another teacher will check on you regularly."

Hiei feigned that he was listening to her. Not that she noticed and jabbered on anyway. Hiei supposed she was nervous, that the half-room intimidated her.

"You are rather lucky, Hiei. Since it's your first offense, Father Takenaka is only having you stay one day. Personally, I would not stay in a place like this. It is grim, harsh, and lonely. At night, there are screams and thrashing heard about."

"Rubbish," Hiei muttered not at all underneath his breath. So he was right about her.

"If you do not hear it yourself, ask Yusuke Urameshi," Sister Midori said, placing a hand on the door. "He is quite the regular in the Tower."

She left, closing and bolting the door lock behind her. Hiei listened to her light tapping footsteps, heard the shrill whine of the first old wooden door and the weighty boom its close made, and then finally heard nothing. Not a scream. Not even a whistle. Hiei made another quick look around the room.

 _A room all to myself for hours on end with no assignments, no idiots, no Minamino?_ Hiei smirked and suppressed a deep laugh as he fell backwards onto the cot, dust flying like puffs of flour around him, and crossed his arms behind his head and one leg over the other and relaxed. _Takenaka really knows how to punish me._

-o-

Kurama Minamino did not place much credence in the supernatural. He much preferred the visible, tangible, concrete, examinable world. But the girls who surrounded him had a soft spot for superstitions—the blood type match, astrological sign compatibility, and the like—and when they tired of gossiping about him in his presence, their conversation always seemed to fall into some silly supernatural topic. Like today's.

The lone male island in a sea of adolescent estrogen, Kurama sat utterly bored out of his mind and consumed his lunch with more haste than he typically allowed himself to. The girls flanking all around him were prattling on about which animal best represented their personalities. He was border-locked in the thick of their giddy chatter, all chirpily proclaiming they were kittens, ponies, doves, or any various cute, cuddly creature in existence.

The girl to his immediate right laid a hand on his arm and asked his opinion of their selections. Kurama gave an ambiguous smile that he knew would be interpreted as agreeing and it was, sending the girls into fits of bubbly giggling, which freed him for the moment to return his lunch and envisioning his female company as toads, hornets, locusts, and stoats.

Kurama did not want to stay at this table. He did not want to feign interest for much longer. Even though he was paying the absolute least amount of attention to the girls' nonsense, Kurama was certain that the longer he sat recording the bare essentials so he would know what and when to answer appropriately, the more he felt the tightly woven coils of his brain matter unweave and liquefy.

Without drawing attention that he was doing so, Kurama searched across the cafeteria for some other table he could excuse himself to. Most of the longtables were full. There was a spot beside Kuwabara but a hostile lunch sans Hiei Jaganshi did not appeal to Kurama. If Kurama was going to spend an entirely of a lunch being glared at, it was going to be with someone that interested him. And Yusuke Urameshi did not interest Kurama. Yes, Kurama did not understand why Yusuke was so antagonistic, sometimes downright violent toward him, but it did not matter enough to Kurama to find out why. After all, Yusuke was, like most of the Academy, uninteresting.

It appeared his prospects were not looking very good. Kurama paused in his search for a new table, partially due to a lack of other seats and partially because the giddy girls were now asking _him_ what animal he thought he was. Breakfast had not faired much better, though the conversation had been more tolerable than this. Kurama suspected dinner would not be great either, though he hoped it was not worse. He was, quite honestly, considering skipping dinner, not wishing to bear through the same punishment twice.

 _Hiei Jaganshi has spoiled me_ , Kurama thought, his head inclined down as to make a pretend show to the girls that he was considering their question very seriously. _I find my tolerance and patience has lessened for my classmates' dull ramblings. I miss Hiei's company, even his fouler moods. Even his silence is more interesting than this. I do wish he chooses to behave more after his little stint in the Tower. I would not like to suffer this boredom for days or weeks on end._

The girls were still waiting, with bated breath apparently, for his reply. With a little charm and flattery and a never-fail smile, he had the girls deciding amongst themselves on which animal he would be. Not that Kurama did not already have a clear decision already selected. If Kurama was an animal, he knew he would be a fox. And right now, he felt like a fox caught in a bear trap chewing its own leg off in a desperate try for freedom.

Kurama made a quick final search across the cafeteria. This time he actually found several seats, all in the company of his roommate, Yuu Kaitou.

Kaitou ate as he always did, alone and with a book shielded in front of his face. Whether Kaitou had friends…well, Kurama supposed that he did. Truthfully, he had never inquired Kaitou on his friends. After all, they had agreements and contracts that did not yield much prying into one another's lives and also because it had never interested Kurama to find out if Kaitou had friends. He did not know for certain if he did or did not but Kurama figured one or the other had to be true.

Kurama did not like that option either. He and Kaitou, despite their years as roommates, were not close and neither had the intention of becoming. Many roommates became friends. Others merely associates. Kurama and Kaitou lived in forced cohabitation. Quite like how lions and African buffalo shared the savannas.

Kaitou considered Kurama his rival. Kurama considered him not even that. Because they shared the same quarters, Kaitou was someone Kurama had to guard himself against, someone he had to maintain his distance from but also his good favor. After all, Kaitou was, to put politely, inquisitive. Given the reason and incentive, Kaitou would intrude his way into exposing every last facet of Kurama.

_And I have reason to believe he is growing curious. He has been engaging me in conversation more than he ever has, though I have diverted his friendly chats back onto himself and evaded his subtle tries at uncovering clues. But he is growing impatient and the more restless he becomes, more eager and persistent he will become. I cannot allow Kaitou to obsess._

"Oh, Minamino couldn't possibly be _that_!" the girl to his right shrilled, breaking Kurama's thought. She giggled as she wrapped her arms around his arm and laid her head against his shoulder. "He's a puppy dog!"

Though none of the tittering girls noticed, his expression deadpanned and Kurama could feel the proverbial massive sweatdrop fall down his temple.

"Excuse me," Kurama rose from the longtable, effortlessly slipping his arm out of the girl's grasp in a way that the girl did not notice him doing so and that did not offend her and that did not inform her at all of how much he had not enjoyed her latching onto him. "But there is someone I must talk with and I fear now may be the only free opportunity my schedule may permit. I am sorry to have to leave you all."

To a collective chorus of 'awws' and then understanding goodbyes, Kurama gave the girls a last apologetic smile and left with his tray and school briefcase and headed over to Kaitou's empty end of the longtable.

_Much as I do not find this situation at all favorable, I will have nothing accomplished and no answers uncovered or confirmed if I stay amongst the girls. Of course, there are risks to be made in interacting with Kaitou._

… _However, they are risks I must make and control._

"Good afternoon, Kaitou," Kurama said in a very usual cordial tone and smiled as he sat down across from him.

"…Minamino," Kaitou replied in his very usual measured voice and not at all lowering his book. "What do I owe the pleasure and grace of your company today?"

"Nothing at all," Kurama said. "I wish merely to spend the remainder of my lunch period catching up with my roommate. We used to talk much more frequently, do you remember?"

"Not as much as you perceive, Minamino," Kaitou said. "Though I can understand and sympathize with your desire to liberate yourself from that awful gaggle of nitrous oxide-induced geese."

Though Kaitou would not see his expression from behind his book but would get the impression from Kurama's pause, Kurama bowed his head and feigned a small, sheepish smile and a do-you-blame-me-for-wanting-to-get-away appeal in his eyes. Paper scratched against paper as Kaitou turned a page.

"You're going to be late tonight," Kaitou said. It was a statement, not a question. Kaitou had no need to ask because he already knew the answer. Kurama nodded yes in any case. "Of course. You are frequently late to bed. That goes without saying," Kaitou went on. "…I wonder if there are any other students in all of the Academy who are as studious as you."

Kaitou lowered his book. His small dark eyes peered just over the book's top. _He is searching_ , Kurama thought. _He is gauging my reaction. …Does he really believe I will expose a tell this easily?_

"You compliment me, Kaitou." Kurama smiled. "I am certain there are many within our student body that are quite studious. I would not be in fault to wager that you yourself is among the dedicated to their academics."

"So the great Kurama Minamino secretly spends his late hours studying." Kaitou smirked behind the cover of his book. "…My, is he not like one of us after all?"

 _Yes. Yes, I am, as far as you need to know._ "How else would I maintain my scores if not without study?"

"Have you not been informed that many are hailing you a genius?"

"Genius? I suppose." Kurama casually shrugged his shoulders. "However, to me, all that means is that I am simply skilled at reading and retaining facts. …You are also not without acclaim. Comparative, within our respective academic circles, you are of greater fame than I."

"I am aware," Kaitou said matter-of-factly.

_Remind him of his relative superiority, that beyond the Academy's walls, he is the eminent prodigy. Reinforce that belief. Lower his impressions of his so-called rivalry. Place him in favor. Do not allow him to feel threatened. When Kaitou feels his intellect is threatened, he will search me to level the playing field._

_…I cannot allow him to search me. He cannot become curious of me. He must think of me as no different than any other student. I must show him that I am no different._

"I suppose that if you allowed yourself a bit more leeway, your star would be equal, if not greater, to mine in the scientific study. You really should pursue something…" Kaitou sneered, his top lip curling in a mocking manner. "I would be eager to hear of the wonders produced, the discoveries made, the frontiers unleashed by the great Kurama Minamino."

_How close you really are, Kaitou… Quite, in fact. I wonder if I should be more concerned? Is it that you have stumbled luckily or that you are more well informed than I give credit?_

"Actually, Kaitou, I have no ambition to garner fame. I, simply, like to keep busy. I'll show you, in fact."

Kurama opened his school briefcase and pulled out his day planner. Kaitou put down his book. Kurama wore a smile but, in truth, it was a smirk. Kurama observed Kaitou. Kaitou's eyes were on the snapped planner and Kaitou waited. Kurama opened his planner and turned to a not-quite-so-random page, though it would appear to be accidental.

"There are a lot of test dates, assignment dates, teacher meetings, and the like. Promises to substitute in the library and reminders to write my mother," Kurama said, flashing a bright smile. "Entries get filled quickly but when it comes right down to it, there really isn't anything worthwhile on the page."

Kurama watched Kaitou. His keen eyes darted across the open pages, perusing and scouring through Kurama's mundane entries in search of clues and pathways. He would find nothing. On these pages. Kaitou looked at the month and noted the set of dates. Kurama watched as Kaitou's beady eyes widened in recognition.

Kurama was very well aware of what dates were on the next page and so was Kaitou. It was the furthest thing from accidental that Kurama had opened his day planner to the month of April and to the very previous set of pages before the 28th, the entry Kaitou was no doubt clearly most interested in seeing and that Kurama wanted to keep secret the most. It was only a narrow sheet of paper away.

 _You were supposed to forget that it ever happened, Kaitou_ , Kurama thought in a cool tone. _You are supposed to honor our agreement to stay out of one another's business. It is because of our agreements that we manage to live together without quarrel. Do not upset our balance._

Kurama noted the small eager twitch in Kaitou's fingers as he reached casually over and laid a hand on the day planner. Kaitou had his fingertips on the page. Kurama watched as Kaitou lifted the page and—

The carillon chimes rang, signaling the end of lunch. Kurama drew his day planner away and shut it with a sudden snap. He quickly returned it to the safety of his school briefcase. Kaitou's eyes briefly widened with surprise at the abrupt disappearance of the day planner but his surprise quickly faded into the cool, restrained courtesy Kurama was so accustomed to receiving from him.

"A pleasure it has been to talk to you, Kaitou," Kurama said as he rose from the longtable. "I do hope to have the opportunity to do so again sometime."

"Of course, Minamino," Kaitou said, smiling wryly. "Anytime you can find the time." Kurama noted the sarcasm in his voice.

A final farewell nod and good day well wished, Kurama left Kaitou. As soon as he was far enough away, Kurama frowned in annoyance. _I was correct_ , Kurama thought as he put his tray away and headed out of the dining hall to his next class.

Kurama had suspected Kaitou was growing curious and now he had confirmation that Kaitou indeed was. This morning's events had been a trap. Kurama had intentionally placed his day planner out on the desk and moved Kaitou's eyeglass case underneath his bed. He had rested some but Kaitou's fumbling about for his glasses had awaken Kurama from his light sleep and Kurama had laid awake, pretending to be asleep until he knew Kaitou had taken the bait.

And now Kurama knew that not only was Kaitou beginning to pry at him, he now also knew that Kaitou was curious about what had caused that strange dizzy spell. Kaitou was wanting to learn more about him, things Kurama preferred no one ever learned. These things concerned him. They belonged to him. No one else needed to know. Kaitou could try and learn but he would discover his hunt ultimately pointless because Kurama was not about to let anything slip.

… _After all, a fox can outwit a single hound._

-o-

Hiei dreamed.

Hiei hated the Box.

It wasn't very large, but its deficiency in space was what exactly made it the Box instead of the Cage or the Cell. It was only just barely able to hold Hiei. There was, in fact, a specific way the man had to put Hiei inside the Box for him to correctly fit. Head first with his chin pressed down, bow his spine and make room for the legs, shove his legs against his chest as far as they would go and then there he was, all tightly packaged and ready to go nowhere.

Hiei knew it meant one of two things when the man brought the Box out of one of many large metal storage closets lining the dark basement. It meant that either the man was going away for a while—and that he would go without food or water for the entire duration of the man's departure—or that the man would be having guests over and could not have Hiei making any noise and thus alerting his company to his existence. Today's particular reason for the Box, which Hiei was fairly certain was, in truth, a dog carrier, seemed to be the latter.

"Be good and Santa might bring you all the leftover treats," the man said as he locked the Box.

With a great heaved sigh, the man lifted the Box and placed it with Hiei inside on top of the storage closet it came out of. All in uncanny similarity to a young boy putting away his box of toys.

Quickly after, the man left, whistling "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas" up the creaking stairs, leaving Hiei to remain in his tight, contorted fetal position for several hours—if the man was going away, it would be for days. Already, he had a charley horse spreading down his thigh, which ruined any hope of Hiei finding enough comfort to fall asleep (as if there was any possibility to begin with), and worst yet, Hiei had to pee.

-o-

Hiei awoke slowly. At first, he lay very still with his eyes shut. He appeared very much still asleep but he was not. Hiei breathed small, quiet deep breaths. Calming breaths. Hiei opened his clenched fist and spread his fingers out over the cot's linen sheets that reminded him of where he truly was and proved he was not back there. A residual nightmarish haze still floated around in his head but Hiei breathed some more and told himself where he was and to open his eyes. Slowly, he listened to himself and peeked his eyes open. He saw white sheets and gray padded walls and knew it was safe.

He rolled over onto his back and stretched out over the cot as much as his body could cover. Hiei lay, inattentively staring up at the ceiling and thinking of nothing and not wanting to. He didn't bat an eye as another bird flew straight into the window, hitting and bouncing off the glass with a loud thump. The first time had been funny, but now, after three times, it was just pathetic.

Hiei wasn't sure what time it was exactly. He knew it was sometime after lunch, in the afternoon. Given the daylight and the blue skies, it had to be around when classes were over or at least close to it. Hiei was supposed to have track practice today but for obvious reasons would not make it. Father Takenaka had probably already informed the coach that he would be absent. Hiei wished he could run. Much as he didn't like admitting, Hiei was getting a little bored. There wasn't anything to do in this room and there were only so many hours Hiei could force himself to sleep and Hiei did not want to sleep if he did not have to. He didn't even like sleeping when he did have to.

He briefly entertained the thought of what Yusuke did to pass the time. Logic told Hiei that he probably exercised, but for some reason Hiei also imagined him bouncing from wall to wall, pretending to be crazy, just to piss off the teachers whenever they checked up on him. Hiei considered working out a little himself but, frankly, he was feeling lazy and stayed spread out on the bed. He probably would later, when he was bored enough or to tire himself out so he could fall asleep, hopefully, dreamlessly.

Hiei heard the bolt lock slide. He supposed it was about time for Sister Midori to make another one of her ridiculous check-ups. There wasn't really any need to look in on him so frequently. There weren't exactly a lot of things he could do in this room, not a lot of opportunity to get in trouble.

The door opened. Hiei sat up in bed and looked toward the door. He narrowed his eyes slightly but for the most part, he was inexpressive. Refusing to come into the room for her own stupid fear, Sister Midori greeted Hiei from the door. And then said Hiei had a visitor. Hiei quirked an eyebrow.

Hiei's visitor poked his head into the doorway. "Hello, Hiei," Minamino said, his voice and expression bright, as if in imitation of Sister Midori and her boundless cheer.

Hiei cursed to himself and flattened his stare. He scowled. Minamino entered and took quick survey of the room, looking about the meager space rather curiously. Understandably, Hiei supposed, the Tower being a room Kurama Minamino would never be sent to and would never have seen before. The lively joy he had shown had lessened considerably, though Minamino still smiled. Annoyingly.

Sister Midori said something from the door. Hiei didn't hear what, or even if he had, did not pay attention to. Whatever she had said, it was clearly not important and she left soon after. And had bolted the door.

As soon as he had heard the bolt click, the realization hit Hiei—he was locked in with Minamino. If Hiei didn't already have nightmares that were truly horrendous in comparison, Hiei would have considered this a definite nightmare. There was no way of avoiding him, besides the window and being so high up in the steeple would certainly provide an excellent final means of getting Minamino out of his life. But as much as he gave the impression otherwise, Hiei was not suicidal. He was, however, entertaining the idea of shoving Minamino out the window.

Hiei decided not to. It would have been too obvious to mark him as the culprit.

"If we must be correct here, visitation is actually not permitted to students in the Tower," Minamino said, as he slid off and set his light purple book bag on the desk. "If it was, can't you imagine students having their friends come over every so often? It would not be much of a punishment, now would it?"

 _This is a punishment_ , Hiei grumbled to himself. _And you are not my friend._ "Why are you here?"

"I was asked to bring your missed assignments for the day to you," Minamino said, stacking Hiei's textbooks neatly on the desk. "And since I am your tutor, I have been granted a small window of time in which to tutor you." On top of the book stack, he placed a manila folder, presumably with Hiei's worksheets and assignment listings, and two pencils.

"So, we can spend our time going over homework that you are more than capable of understanding and completing yourself," Minamino said as he pulled out the chair from the desk, placed it at an adequate distance across from Hiei, and sat down. "Or we can forego all that tedium and talk about anything and everything. Whatever you wish." Minamino crossed one leg over the other and laid his interlaced fingers on his knee. "You may begin at your leisure."

Hiei drew in his legs close to his body and held them tight, physically closing himself up. He angled his stare to the side, refusing to meet Minamino's purely out of obstinacy. His mouth was even pulled in a stubborn line.

"Leave me alone," he said, not intending to speak another word.

"I cannot do that, Hiei," Minamino said, his voice oddly sincere, which made Hiei blink and forced to him to face him again. Minamino's smile looked more like a smirk as he pointed and said, "The door is locked."

 _Smart-ass._ "I didn't mean that." _Well, yes, I did._ "I meant in general. Quit sitting with me. Quit talking with me. Quit coming near me. I. Don't. Like. You. I don't want you around me."

"Rather difficult set of requests you make of me. I am not sure if it is possible for me to stay away from you. We do, after all, have to share the same classroom."

"I'll quit coming," Hiei said.

"Then I will be forced to fail you," Minamino said. "You will have to repeat your fourth year and my tutorial class."

"Not outside of class then," Hiei proposed. "Our interaction is limited to your ridiculous class and that's it."

"I cannot do that, Hiei," Minamino repeated, the same tone included.

Minamino's smile was vague but if Hiei had to guess, there was an amused quality to it. Hiei's hands bunched into tight fists and he squashed them against the cot mattress. "Do you just love pissing me off?"

"Not particularly," Minamino said, lightly shaking his head no. "It is not my objective, though I do appear to have quite the aptitude for it. Or is it that you are simply too easily provoked?"

Hiei bared his teeth. "You do, don't you?" he asked sardonically as he rose and stood. "You love being annoying, showing up where you're _least_ wanted, talking on and on essentially to yourself, sitting with me even though I hate it and all just so you can get away from your moronic worshippers, being friendly when you really could care _less_. You probably think it's all a fun little game."

Minamino sat in silence and listened. His expression did not change and bore no visible feeling. After Hiei finished, Minamino waited before he responded.

Minamino said slowly, "I will repeat myself a little clearer. No, I do not. And I am not playing with you. There is no game."

Hiei glared at him. "Then why?"

"Perhaps it is because I wish to be friends," Minamino said.

Hiei was stunned. The anger pinching his face gradually relaxed away, leaving a completely blank expression. His fists uncurled bit by bit until his hands laid limply at his sides. Slowly, Hiei sat back down on the cot, all the while giving Minamino a wary gaze.

"Why do you want to be friends?" Hiei asked suspiciously.

Minamino gave a small smile. "Do I have to have a reason?"

"Yes."

"I simply cannot _want_ to be your friend?"

"No," Hiei said.

"Why is that?"

Hiei answered immediately, "Because no one does."

"But what if I do?" Minamino asked.

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Then you're up to something."

Minamino leaned his head slightly to the side. "And Yusuke and Kuwabara? Do you believe they have an ulterior reason as well?"

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest. "They're not my friends," he scoffed and turned his head to the side. "I don't have any friends."

"But you could have friends," Minamino said.

"No."

"Why not?"

" _Because_ ," Hiei repeated.

"Elaborate for me," Minamino said in an encouraging voice.

Hiei said nothing. He refused to. He sat with his arms still crossed looking away from Minamino and scowled.

Minamino pushed onward, "Then why is that? What makes you the exception?"

"Mind your own business!" Hiei shouted. He threw himself onto the bed and faced the wall, his back to Minamino. Hiei drew his legs in and closed his eyes. He wished Minamino would leave already, that Sister Midori would come back and unbolt the door. Or failing that, that Minamino shut up until he could leave. Hiei already knew that wasn't going to happen. Hiei was stuck with Minamino for now and Minamino would talk.

That didn't mean Hiei had to play Minamino's little game.

-o-

As Hiei threw himself onto the bed and curled up, Kurama Minamino briefly closed his eyes and breathed a quiet sigh of frustration. As of yet to his memory, and Kurama was searching deep into his memory, there was no one Kurama had ever met that was as stubborn, as inflexible, as blind as Hiei Jaganshi.

_He thinks no one wants to be his friend, that he cannot have friends. But I have already proven that there are people who could be his friends and that he is capable of making friends. However, he is stubborn and proud. He wants to be alone._

_…And yet, he also does not._

_For all his reviling of my sitting with him, he has never simply left, never pursued an effective course of avoidance. And the one time he stormed off, he sat down with Yusuke and Kuwabara. For a boy who so desires to be alone, he often surrounds himself with company._

Kurama reopened his eyes and gazed at Hiei, still facing the wall, the dark shape of his body like a black coal lump against the lighter colors of the white bed sheets and gray padded walls. Kurama supposed if he leaned forward and touched Hiei that his body would turn as hard as coal. He also figured that Hiei would most likely hit him.

_He blames me for all his annoyances but truthfully, he has made these choices of his own volition. The rudeness, the threats, the aggression, it is all bluster, a bravado, a show. For most people, that is enough and he drives people away, though he may secretly wish they do not go._

_And he believes that people must have other reasons for befriending him. Curious… I wonder why?_

… _I surmise those are things I will only learn after I have truly befriended him._ Kurama wore a determined smile. _Mother always said that I would appreciate things more if I worked hard and earned what I wanted than if it was simply given to me._

It was not easy to settle on whether he was succeeding or failing. Kurama figured it was a little bit of both. He was, after all, right in the position he expected to be. Things were going as he planned and as he had not. Hiei was in a unpredictable state, a dangerous but crucial state for Kurama. The wrong step taken and Hiei could remain closed up to him from now on, making all of Kurama's past and future efforts for naught. But if everything went right, as Kurama hoped things would go, the foundation of their friendship could at last be set.

Kurama took the risk.

"What if I do want to be your friend?" he asked.

Hiei did not respond. That worried Kurama. It worried Kurama that he had pushed too far or too soon, that Hiei had closed up. Kurama repeated his question.

"Then you're a fool," Hiei finally said, still turned away.

At least, Hiei was still speaking to him. It showed promise. It gave Kurama hope. "Is it that preposterous to you that someone might _want_ to be your friend?"

"Yes."

Another response. With Hiei, that was always a good sign. Kurama continued, "Why is that?"

"Because no one does."

"And if I want to?" Kurama asked, fully aware they were both repeating themselves.

"No."

"Is that to having any friends or is that just to me?"

"Both," Hiei said.

Kurama paused. The situation was, perhaps, not as bad as he had surmised. While Hiei still had his back to him and faced the wall, he was still communicating, still giving his usual short responses. At least, he was using words and wasn't making monosyllabic sounds. Hiei's body and demeanor also did not seem as rigid as it had been. Hiei had calmed by now and appeared to be more receptive. And because of that, Kurama made his greatest push.

"I do want to be your friend, Hiei."

Hiei flinched. It was quite obvious to Kurama that Hiei did not expect to hear that, even from him with all his talk of friendship.

But once the initial shock faded, Hiei transmuted his surprise to anger. Hiei turned over, sat on the side of the cot, and faced Kurama. "Haven't you done enough?"

Kurama blinked. "Pardon, but I do not follow…"

"Okay, I assaulted you and you want to get back. I get that. But the party and now this?" Hiei glared Kurama down and scowled. "You weren't hurt that much."

"You think this is about revenge?" Kurama said, surprise lining his voice. "Hiei…I told you. I have no intention of getting back at you. I have forgiven you."

"Liar," Hiei scoffed. "What other motivation would you have?"

"The ones I have already given you. To show you that you can have friends, to show you the possibility of having friends, and to offer my hand in friendship."

Hiei eyed Kurama skeptically. "Why?"

"Must I have another cause?" Kurama repeated.

Hiei opened and closed his mouth shut and stared at Kurama, caution and bewilderment heavy in his red eyes. They both considered this a rare form of silence from Hiei, often he intentionally ignored questions but rarely had he ever been brought into a true speechlessness. After all, unless he was choosing not to answer, Hiei always had a comeback. Usually something snarky.

Hiei did not have a comeback.

And before Hiei could find one or for Kurama to make a follow-up, there was a knock on the door and the sound of the metal bolt sliding free. The door opened and Sister Midori stood in the doorway. She told Kurama that his time was up.

"When you are ready…" Kurama sighed as he rose from his seat. He placed the chair back where it originally was and grabbed his book bag from the desk. As he started to leave, Kurama looked over at Hiei, who still regarded him with uncertainty. Kurama smiled and raised his hand in farewell.

-o-

In the dark, Hiei sat on the cot with his back pressed against the wall and considered and denied and sulked and considered some more. He told himself Minamino was a liar and everything had been for revenge. But when he tried to justify his view, all Hiei could recall was the sincerity Minamino's eyes had shone—at the party and now—and the surprise in Minamino's voice after Hiei had insinuated it was just revenge. He had no basis but Hiei did not want to believe it was anything else but revenge.

Because if it wasn't revenge, then it was something else. Minamino was planning something. Hiei just didn't know what. If not for his revenge, then Minamino had other motives. No one ever wanted to be friends with him without having personal gains. Hiei just hadn't figured out Minamino's yet.

He thought and thought of possible reasons from the moment Minamino left and continuing even now, but Hiei could not find one of merit. _Perhaps_ , squeaked the little part of Hiei's brain that spouted stupid ideas from time to time. _Perhaps Minamino has no other reason. Maybe he really wants to be friends._

Hiei gritted his teeth and drew in his legs close to his body and brooded. That idea was stupid. It was illogical. It was wrong. It could not be. _No one_ wants _to be friends with me_ , he told himself.

_Minamino does._

And what if he did? So what. Didn't mean he had to let him be his friend just because Minamino wanted to be friends. Why would Hiei want to be friends with him anyway? Minamino was an irritating, goody-goody, _perfect_ know-it-all. His every word was hung onto. His every want was catered to. His entrance in a room was treated like the Second Coming. Why would Minamino want to be friends with him when he already had everyone in the Academy beckoning at his heels? Hiei wasn't about to be a part of Minamino's collection and didn't want all his little worshippers wanting to be his friend too.

And what was so great about Minamino anyway? If he was as smart as his perfect scores proclaimed, he would have realized that Hiei wanted to be alone. The rest of the Academy had figured it out, but Minamino was the only one who sat and talked with him and on a regular basis. Hiei should have realized on his first day when Minamino smiled at him that he would be too dumb to take a hint. After all, he had been the first student to show him kindness.

And Minamino had foolishly taken the time, wasted time in Hiei's opinion, and came up with that harebrained revenge/lesson/whatever that farce of a 'birthday' party had supposed to have been. Minamino had been so committed to his plan that he even had a cake made. And all just to ridiculously prove Hiei could have friends.

 _What an idiot_ , Hiei sneered and raised his head up haughtily. _Why would want to be friends with him?_

Why would Hiei want to be friends with such a know-nothing? After all, everybody else knew to leave him alone. Even Yusuke and Kuwabara. But not Minamino.

A smirk spread across Hiei's face and he darkly and silently laughed to himself.

No, not Minamino. He never knew to stay away. He had checked up on him in the bathroom when Kuwabara's orange had turned his stomach. Yusuke and Kuwabara hadn't been concerned. Not at all. But Minamino had.

The laughter weakened and Hiei struggled to raise his falling smirk.

But wait. Minamino had been the first moron to point out he had red eyes…

And then he kept the knowledge to himself, just like the bathroom incident. He hadn't been frightened by them or 'weirded out' by them and he hadn't made fun of him for having red eyes. To Minamino, his eyes were normal. In fact, from his first day, Minamino had never shunned him or treated him as a freak. Time after time, he had helped him and been there. He always was. And now, Minamino was the first person that seemed to really just want to be Hiei's friend.

Hiei knew he was a cold person by nature but never before had he been struck frozen. And all by the thought of Minamino wanting to be his friend.

It went against everything Hiei had known before, had believed. He could not believe it was true. So he did not. Hiei was certain Minamino had another reason. Hiei was determined to find out what. He swore he would.

 _I am no idiot,_ Hiei thought and scowled into the dark half-room that revealed no thrashing, no thumps, no shrieks. The Tower was silent. Hiei sat up all night. He sat up wondering why Kurama Minamino wanted to be his friend and his reasons for it and behind the offer.

In the early morning and in the hazy grips of sleep too strong for Hiei to fight, Hiei's mind wondered what it would be like to have a friend, that if he should be friends with Kurama Minamino after all, that he should let him be his friend. Hiei was too sleepy to scoff and shoot down the ideas. He shook his head wearily and pressed his cheek against the padded wall. Not a moment later, Hiei was asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho isn't mine.

Author's Notes: Thanks goes out to Adri for commenting. I also thank the readers who left kudos on this story. I'm happy with any and all kind words I am granted.

The chapter in which Hiei's stubbornness frustrates even me. Thanks for reading.

-o-

Chapter Ten: You Are Capable of More

-o-

Kurama Minamino felt very pleased with his fortunes and let the world know with his smile, though to most his smile looked hardly different than usual but it was. Kurama's smile was of ordinary appearance and size but the intensity of cheer it radiated far surpassed its mediocre display. Kurama was the kind of person who could pour vast emotion and meaning into tiny gestures and expressions and he often did so. Not that they were always observed or deciphered. Truthfully, for his advantage, it was best that the majority remained ignorant of his true feelings and they stayed blissfully so.

His fellow classmates may not have noticed the distinction but they had certainly picked up on his good spirits and brightened on accord themselves. Amid his chatting classmates also waiting for class to begin, Kurama sat pretending to study his notes so he would not be disturbed. Kurama often pulled such a feint, mostly to allow himself alone space to think and also because it worked.

The Academy was protective of him, Kurama was aware of that and knew no one wanted to be blamed on jeopardizing his academic performance and have the Academy lose him as its perfect student celebrity. Because no one wanted to rally behind Kaitou. Along with his caustic personality, he was, quite frankly, not pretty. And at the Academy, or any high school really, that was all that truly mattered.

Not that it meant his classmates were quiet. Sure, he could ask them to lower their voices and by uniformity so would the rest of the class, however Kurama saw no desperate need to. He could, after all, tune the surrounding voices out and focus wholly on his thoughts. More so when he thought about Hiei Jaganshi.

This morning's breakfast after his and Hiei's conversation in the Tower earlier this week had been very subdued and cautious. All their meals together this week had been like that, though Kurama supposed he could be thankful that Hiei had let him sit by him with no great protest or without darting off. Not that he had seemed to like it when Kurama sat down beside him, however that was no great change at all.

Hiei had, however, hunched down into his school uniform and regularly eyed Kurama from his seat beside him. Hiei's very near a glare stare was very wary of Kurama and distrustful of their situation and watched Kurama intently when Hiei had saw fit to look over, mostly when he thought Kurama wouldn't notice. Or in other words, when Kurama had presented the opportunity for Hiei to look over while he was 'inattentive'.

Though Kurama had attempted at their usual sort of conversation, Hiei had not responded well. At most and best, all Kurama had received out of Hiei was the occasional grunt when he wasn't just scowling in silence. At least he was still but barely communicating with Kurama, though Kurama preferred he used actual words. Kurama supposed he couldn't be too disappointed. After all, it was clear to Kurama, especially when Hiei looked over, that Hiei was thinking very deeply.

Kurama had left breakfast this morning quite satisfied.

 _Hiei is hesitant, yes_ , Kurama thought as his first period teacher at last entered the room and the class quieted, _but he is curious as well. How ever withdrawn he may act, Hiei is in fact more open than he has ever been. He is thinking. He is considering. I suspect he will require one last great persuasion before he is ready to accept my friendship. And I will wait, staying on this course of action until I see an opportunity to offer such._

_Once Hiei is clear of all possible doubts, only then will he finally see._

-o-

Hiei sat barely attentive in Minamino's tutorial class as he waited for the final five minutes to pass and Minamino's dismissal. The rest of the class worked on assignments. Hiei had nothing. Well, he actually did, but it was just another one of Iwamoto's extra homework assignments and he wasn't entirely planning on doing it. Besides, there were other things in this room that were far more entertaining to look at. Like the clock.

Hiei watched with a complete lack of interest as Kuwabara and Yusuke regularly passed notes between one another, with a few occasionally almost landing onto Hiei's desk by Yusuke poorly aiming over his shoulder. If any note landed on his desk, Hiei swore it would cease to exist.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were in no danger of getting caught. Minamino was occupied with helping Eriko with her regular science assignment. In other words, he was too busy leaning in close in a fruitless attempt to hear and understand her stuttering whispers. She was quite vividly red—possibly even brighter than Minamino's hair—and she shook like a Toy Chihuahua desperately trying not to wet itself.

So Hiei sat watching the clock and remained the unwanted, unwelcomed third person in the middle of Yusuke and Kuwabara's papery discussion. Just as he predicted, a note fell onto Hiei's desk and, true to his word, the note simply ceased to exist. Kuwabara was hardly surprised by Hiei's reaction, though he looked over and frowned. Yusuke glowered over his shoulder and nodded his head in a cocky, intimidating manner, as if he was telling Hiei to try, to just fucking try to do that again.

Yusuke was still angry with him. Not that Hiei cared. Even the slightest bit. Yusuke could go on being mad at him. He could continue believing Hiei was friends with Minamino because Hiei knew the truth. They weren't friends and Hiei wasn't like Yusuke said he was—fawning and adoring over Minamino like the rest of the Academy. Though Hiei would never admit this, he didn't necessarily hate Minamino at all as before, however, as a general rule, he still disliked him. There were some things he could admire about Minamino and bits and pieces of aspects of him he could even begrudgingly admit to possibly _liking_ now, but he was far from the level of constant blind worship and esteem the Academy showered on Minamino.

Fact remained that Yusuke believed Hiei was friends with Minamino, which he wasn't, but Yusuke thought so. Minamino sitting beside him all week didn't help matters, not that Hiei wanted to repair his image in Yusuke's eyes. Again, Hiei cared less what Yusuke thought and he could go on being mad at him for his stupid reasons. It was simply that Hiei didn't mind having the option of sitting with Yusuke and Kuwabara, even if Minamino joined them soon after anyway. At least then, in their quartet, it wasn't all just Minamino focusing on him the entirety of the time.

But that wasn't a possibility anymore. Yusuke had made it blatant to him the next morning after his day in the Tower that he was no longer welcome. Kuwabara didn't seem to mind but he didn't want to get put in the middle. Not like he would even matter.

Unafraid and unconcerned by Yusuke's threat, Hiei huffed and raised his head haughtily in response. Yusuke threw a quick sneer at him before facing forward again in his seat and, after a momentary pause, restarted tossing notes to Kuwabara. From his oaf of a roommate's single restrained snicker, Hiei figured Yusuke's latest note contained an insult at him.

 _The immature idiot… As if that would bother me,_ Hiei huffed again, this time out of impatience. Five minutes was feeling like five hours. He was relieved when the time finally came and Minamino dismissed them. Hiei left quickly, which would have been quicker if Yusuke hadn't cut him off mid-step.

 _I don't care what his_ damn _problem is_ , Hiei thought as he made his way slowly down the congested hall. He wanted to hurry on through but in order to do so would mean barging through so many people and the thought of that much physical contact made Hiei sick. So, much as he hated waiting and it irritated him, Hiei put up with the slow march. He would eventually get out of here.

Though not away from Minamino.

"Why are you following me?" Hiei asked as he scowled at the sight of Minamino next to him.

"I am not following you," Minamino denied. "I am walking beside you for a little while. It is, after all, on my way."

"You don't even know where I'm going."

"True," Minamino said in agreement. "However, I am certain it is on my way."

Hiei hated the way he was smiling—bright, cheery, and all too amused. Minamino was happy about something and that annoyed Hiei. If there was any way of crushing that smile, Hiei was ready to—

"…Jaganshi," Iwamoto croaked and then, turning to Minamino, said much more sweetly, "Ah, _Minamino_."

Hiei huffed and looked away as Minamino gave an acknowledging bow to Iwamoto and greeted him with a courtesy the brute hardly deserved. The show of respect to the pompous bastard made Hiei bridle in disgust. He knew Minamino would be polite to Iwamoto but he still didn't like seeing it happen.

Students exiting and entering the Science Hall shifted around the blockade Iwamoto caused and after a bit of awkward chitchat in which Iwamoto asked how Minamino was doing in his tutorial classes and if he was keeping to his studies all right (and also implied that, if Minamino wanted to, they could work things out to where he didn't have to devote as much time to helping the incompetent), Iwamoto finally got to his point of why he stopped them.

"Minamino, we're going to have to push your performance evaluation to a later date."

Hiei quirked an eyebrow at his words, two words in particular actually, but Minamino didn't react at all. He obviously knew what Iwamoto was talking about. "Very well then, sir. I understand," Minamino replied and offered a quick nod.

Iwamoto's eyes dropped to Hiei and narrowed. By now, it was purely his reflexive response to being in Hiei's presence. Hiei returned the bitter sentiments.

"Jaganshi, I've heard you'll be participating in tomorrow's meet. Why, it's a miracle of the Lord that you're even still on the team…" he sneered, as if he didn't believe that it would last for much longer. "I'd wish you good luck and offer a blessing but from how Niigano speaks of you, I doubt that will be needed. He appears confident in your ability to run in a straight line. …Glad to know."

Stringing a line of insults and curses so long he could hang Iwamoto with them, Hiei watched Iwamoto, partially to needle hateful glares at him and partially to keep an eye on his fists and feet, as the smug, darkly-laughing-to-himself brute took his leave and barged in between Minamino and him. Hiei didn't think Iwamoto would try to do anything to him, what with so many students passing through and Minamino next to him, but he wasn't dropping the possibility.

As the bulk of Iwamoto disappeared into the crowd of students and Hiei no longer wanted to stare at him anyway, Hiei turned and faced forward. And as he did so, he glanced at Minamino. He had been watching Iwamoto leave as well and while his expression remained calm and impassive like usual, Hiei thought he noticed a certain, underlining tightness in his face and sternness in his eyes. Hiei almost thought Minamino was frowning at Iwamoto.

Hiei didn't think it was so because Hiei couldn't imagine Minamino showing any form of disrespect to a teacher, even a hateful slimeball like Iwamoto. The two simply did not equate in Hiei's mind.

And by the time Hiei looked again to verify for himself, Minamino was already smiling at him, albeit it was a tiny smile, and all the harshness in his eyes had vanished. Hiei accepted what he first thought—that he had imagined it.

They returned the walking flow back to its unobstructed current and headed toward the main doors. At first it seemed like they would walk in silence, but what Iwamoto had said to Minamino poked at Hiei's curiosity. That and he knew Minamino would break that silence anyway.

Hiei looked at Minamino. "Performance evaluation?"

"Ah, just a part of the tutorial program," Minamino said. "For tutors only. Nothing to concern yourself with."

Hiei looked away and smirked. "Though it would be advised that we be on our best behavior, wouldn't it?"

Minamino said nothing. He kept his gaze forward, his steps moving, and his smile bright and did not answer Hiei. He took Minamino's silence to mean yes.

"You are headed toward the track field, are you not?" Minamino asked. "Or are you not allowed to practice before a meet?"

"Light practice," Hiei said. "The stretch but don't strain yourself sort."

Hiei heard Minamino talk encouragingly about Hiei's participation in tomorrow's track meet but his attention was divided. As he and Minamino made their way gradually through the busy hall, there was a group of entering students who were chatting and laughing quite boisterously and they were making it quite difficult for Minamino's soft voice to reach Hiei and keep his focus.

Hiei wished the students in front of him would walk faster. He wanted to get out of the Science Hall. He wanted the openness of the outside. He felt confined being still inside and with so many people around him inviting the opportunity to touch him. Put simply, Hiei would have felt less ill at ease if he was outside.

And he would almost be there, once he passed by these laughing idiots. As their paths began to cross, Hiei looked toward them and readied a massive glare and scowl for them. And then, in response to whatever stupid subject they were making a loud to-do over, one girl playfully shoved the boy at her side and right toward Hiei.

There was no time or capability for Hiei to dodge. Shock and anger rushed through Hiei as his body tensed and prepared to respond how ever to the sudden, vile physical contact.

Only the boy and Hiei did not touch.

Somehow, they had managed not to collide into one another. Hiei couldn't understand why or how. After all, the moron had been stumbling right toward him. And fear had overwhelmed him as his mind and body realized and informed him that he was about to be touched. In the rush of events and loathed prospects, Hiei had been taken aback. However, if he even had the mindset to react, Hiei had only a spilt second to do so. It had been so quick. Had Hiei, perhaps, sidestepped instinctively?

Hiei thought so. It made sense to him. He was used to dodging people, used to avoiding their personal spaces and defending his. He never let most people get into touching range and, when forced to, he usually kept constant awareness. It was quite possible his body was accustomed to evading when people came too close and he did it all the time and this one time happened to be the first Hiei had ever thought about it.

That had to be it. It explained things perfectly.

…Except for the crawling, burning sensations on his back. The same sensations he felt whenever someone touched him.

Hiei wriggled and worked his back in discomfort. The crawling sensations always gave way into itching. Not that Hiei could reach the spot on his back anyway, but there really wasn't a way to stop the burning and itching. It would stop when it would stop. And Hiei would hate it until it did. But he had other things to hate over, like figuring out how in the hell he had been touched.

It couldn't have been the boy. He was at the wrong angle and position to touch him on his back, and for him to do so, Hiei would have noticed it coming. He was out of the question. But if it wasn't him then who else?

A thought dawned on Hiei, though he didn't want it to.

_Minamino._

Did he? Had he? It couldn't have been. It just couldn't. It had gone too quickly. How would have Minamino had time to react? And for what reason would he have had? Even if Minamino had a reason, which he didn't because he didn't touch him, it would have been too stupid anyway and nothing Hiei would have found viable.

Hiei didn't think it had been Minamino. The thought of it stirred so many reactions out of Hiei, the principle being anger. Hiei did not like being touched. By anyone and that included Minamino. No, _especially_ by Minamino. Just because he had offered Hiei his friendship didn't mean they were close and that didn't give him the right to touch him, even to guide him from something he abhorred.

So that was it. Hiei had decided—it had not been Minamino. As far as he knew, Hiei didn't know who it had been.

Hiei shot Minamino a sidelong glance. There was really nothing new to Minamino, nothing that would implicate he had any involvement in how Hiei missed getting bumped into. Minamino was looking ahead, walking, and wore his usual placid smile. But he wasn't talking. And Hiei couldn't remember when he had stopped. He did know Minamino had been talking before that boy stumbled toward him—

Hiei reminded himself that the matter had already been decided. He also ignored the underlining pleasure in Minamino's smile. Not that it didn't eat at him anyway.

"Why are you still following me?" Hiei asked, a great deal of irritation in his voice. "Don't you have to study?"

"Practices are not veiled in secrecy. Anyone can watch if they so wish and I have been intending to study outside more. After all…" Minamino held open a main door for Hiei. Sunlight poured into the door's threshold. "It is such a pretty day."

-o-

After serving his detention for the day, Hiei was on his way back to the dorms. Because of tomorrow's meet, Sister Midori, his supervising teacher for today's detention, let him off early and with a well-wish that he do his best tomorrow. Today's detention hadn't been that strenuous anyway. None of Sister Midori's ever were.

Really, most of the faculty's detentions hadn't been that grueling, just tedious and time-wasting. The only teacher Hiei hated to work for, to no surprise, was Iwamoto, though ratty Father Akashi too deserved to get his face bashed in. And Sister Genkai's detentions were as cruel and labor-intensive as Iwamoto's but her punishments were not at all out of pure spite as Iwamoto's. She broke Hiei's back and chops with hard work and stern words because he was there serving a punishment, nothing more and nothing less. Yes, she was a mean, tiny old hag, but at least she was an equal-opportunity mean, tiny old hag.

Some students passing by Hiei were talking about tomorrow's meet. In a joking way, and in complete obliviousness that they were near someone on the track team. They, and as the rest of the Academy agreed, did not believe Sacred Heart had a chance of winning. After all, the track team was notoriously pathetic and hadn't had a win—not even a third place—in years. From the way they talked, they seemed like they were only going to watch just because it was something to do (and apparently a few teachers offered extra credit).

Not that it mattered to Hiei if anybody came to see the meet. He actually preferred if students didn't show up. From what Hiei had been overhearing, no one was really planning on watching the meet. No one came out to watch practices either. In fact, the only people that had came to watch today's practice were friends of students on the team and Minamino. And without a doubt, it had been the most awkward practice.

Hiei had tried to stretch, tried to run, tried to do any of the usual things he did at practice, but he couldn't. The thought of Minamino up in the stands watching him made him uncomfortable. And more so than usual. And when Hiei's attentions weren't divided between what he was trying to do and watching the stands and determining whether Minamino's eyes were on his book or him, Hiei was screwing up in other ways, like false starting during a mock race.

Even the coach had noticed there was something off to Hiei's performance—the never-was-a-problem-before false starts had been a major flag, for instance. He had tried to get Hiei to explain why but Hiei evaded the truth and had Coach Niigano believing it was nothing more than pre-race jitters.

Heading quickly up the silent stairwell, Hiei considered his options for the rest of the evening. He didn't have much homework for this weekend—whether the track meet had anything to do with that, Hiei neither knew nor cared—and what he hadn't already completed, he planned to dodge anyway. His main assignment, Iwamoto's extra homework, had been not at all accidentally filed in a cabinet with all the other papers Sister Midori had him organizing for tonight's detention.

So Hiei had a few hours before he reasonably had to force himself to sleep. He wasn't quite certain on how to waste them. Running was a plausible answer, though the coach would probably frown on it. As long as he didn't injury himself, or even if he did just so he wouldn't have to run for the Academy's benefit, Hiei thought about doing it. He supposed he could provoke Kuwabara. That was always somewhat entertaining and it had been a while since the last time.

But, truthfully, as he made his way to his (and technically, Kuwabara's) room, Hiei felt lazy tonight. He didn't want to do anything. More than likely his evening plans would consist of laying spread out on his bed—the hard decision would be whether he would lie facing the ceiling or face down into his pillow—until he finally fell asleep. While it was a complete waste of time, it did have some entertainment value in unnerving Kuwabara. Which was always a plus for Hiei.

As he reached his room and his decision, Hiei opened the door to find his plans changed. Yusuke was sitting on his bed. In fact, when he saw Hiei at the door, he uncrossed his legs and stretched out in blatant defiance. Hiei ignored him. Removing only his recently renewed copy of _Frankenstein_ , Hiei tossed his school briefcase to the floor and near his bed and turned to immediately leave.

"Hey Hiei," Yusuke said. "I wanna say I'm sorry."

Hiei paused in the doorway and directed a listening ear toward Yusuke. If he wanted to apologize, then fine. It was about time he finally figured things out and realized the truth.

"I'm sorry for thinking you were something that you're not," Yusuke continued. "It's become obvious to me that you've never been badass. You've always been like everyone else and I should've known that."

Hiei stood rigid, his arms tensing, and balled his hands into fists. Miraculously, Hiei still had a tenuous grip on his anger. Not much of it was left but it was enough to hold him back from slugging Yusuke right off. He knew Yusuke was just baiting him. He was trying to get him to fight but Hiei didn't have to give in.

Kuwabara tried to mediate, "Come on, Urameshi, not here…" He was ignored.

"What? You gonna hit me?" Yusuke got off Hiei's bed and stood. "No, you're not. Don't wanna lose your precious star on the track team. Yea, I've heard the rumors. Bet you love all this attention. I was joking before but now I really see that you really are like Minamino."

Hiei clenched his teeth tightly together. _He wants me to react,_ he reminded himself.

"You're one of them, another flocking worshipper. I've seen you sitting together all week. I don't see how you stand him."

Hiei's restraint on his anger failed. He grabbed Yusuke by the shirt and pulled him down to his eye level. "How many times do I have to say this before it sinks into your thick head? _He_ sits with _me_! And we are not friends!"

Yusuke shot Hiei an incredulous eye. "Really, Hiei? That old answer? You think I believe that one anymore?" He jerked Hiei's grip loose and shoved Hiei back. "You're friends with Minamino. _You_ _are_. And I thought— I wanted to believe— You're a jerk but you seemed like—"

Yusuke opened and closed this mouth as he failed to say whatever he was trying to say. He sat back down on Hiei's bed and turned his head so that he faced the curtained window. "I want nothing to do with Minamino. Even his friends."

"I'm not his—" and then Hiei gave up. Clearly, Yusuke wasn't going to listen to reason. No matter what Hiei said, it wasn't going to make a difference.

"Idiot," Hiei muttered and with a derisive snort, he left.

He left not just his dorm room but the dormitory itself. He stormed across the streetlamp-lit campus pathways, his anger like stirring embers ready to set the nearest fuel ablaze or reared-back snakes prepared to strike. He told himself that he wouldn't let Yusuke get to him, that he wouldn't react. Then why was Yusuke getting at him?

' _You're friends with Minamino_ ,' repeated in Hiei's head. _'_ You are _.'_

 _No, I'm not!_ His body shook and tensed as he suppressed his anger. He wanted to yell. He wanted to yell for the entire Academy to hear and know once and for all that he was _not_ friends with Minamino.

Hiei did not yell. It wasn't as if anyone was going to believe him. After all, he was surrounded by morons. Morons who didn't listen when you told them the truth and couldn't get it into their heads if you slapped them across the face with it.

Hiei entered the library, deciding to waste his time there until he figured Yusuke had vacated his bed. All of the third floor nooks were either occupied for study or…well, giggling was never a good sign. It was a better alert than some other noises though. It all disgusted Hiei. He couldn't see why anyone would want to get that close to someone…much less touch them.

After one snogging couple too many and, for his own entertainment, breaking one up—of course, how was Hiei supposed to know the chick had a cold sore and a previous history of herpes, Hiei checked the second and first floors. The selection really wasn't great on either floor either. The places he did find had too much foot-traffic for Hiei's preference and the one place that was relatively secluded and private was at a table. Occupied by Minamino.

Hiei growled low in his throat. Either choice left him getting constantly disturbed. One choice did seem more appealing than the other though. To Hiei's surprise, it was the table with Minamino.

Hiei was still angry. He could feel it, heavy and knotted, in his stomach. He wanted to argue with someone but not have it collapse into fists and he knew that Minamino would oblige. Minamino didn't even have to offer a counterpoint. He could listen while Hiei vented and that would serve Hiei's purposes well enough. He just wanted to throw his anger at Yusuke all onto him, that was all. And he had no one else to turn to. It wasn't like he would ever want to _willingly_ sit near Minamino. Hiei was just pissed and Minamino happened to be the only warm-blooded body around that wouldn't freak out if he sat down and just started ranting at him.

Concealed among the bookcases, Hiei stood watching Minamino at an angle through a gap in the shelves. Minamino was focused on his work. He wrote some and then paused, in which Hiei stepped away from the space until he heard Minamino writing once more. The pause was more than likely just to compose his thoughts but Hiei wasn't taking a chance.

He stood, watching and waiting. For what, he didn't know. He supposed he was waiting for himself to decide whether he was going to sit with Minamino or not. He wasn't certain either way. Yes, he had a reason and it wasn't like his options were really that open, but sitting with Minamino would go against everything he was trying to tell others was the truth. His core example of why they weren't friends, after all, was that Minamino sat with him, that it was never the other way around. This would… It would prove they were friends and Hiei refused to let that happen.

 _But if no one saw me…_ Hiei reasoned. _It would look like it always does. Except if anyone had seen that Minamino had been sitting there first._

So Hiei stood and watched Minamino in the gap and hid out of view whenever he paused, trapped between his reasons and inclination to sit with Minamino and his reasons and inclination to not. The two sides barreled into one another and gave convincing arguments, but the end result just amassed into giving Hiei a massive headache.

Tired of fighting, angry with Yusuke, and frustrated at his inability to make a decision, Hiei decided at last to hell at what others thought and that he would sit with Minamino just so he could pour out all this anger and frustration on him but not because they were friends.

Hiei took a step forward and heard, "Ah, Minamino. Should've known I'd find you here."

A boy, probably a classmate, walked over and started talking to Minamino. And Hiei disappeared back into the bookcases to search for an open nook, any nook. Even one surrounded by constant foot-traffic would do.

-o-

It was a perfect day to run in a track meet and a perfect day to watch a track meet as Kurama Minamino made his way to the upper middle of the stands and took his seat. A few of his classmates had come along and arranged themselves accordingly around him.

The unofficially sanctioned Sacred Heart section of the stands was, as expected, not as filled as the seating for the other participating schools. It did appear that there were more Sacred Heart students in the stands than ever before, though, to be honest, Kurama's data was not up to date. This was, in fact, the first time he had ever come out to watch Sacred Heart's track team perform. In his defense, he had no motivation to do so before. And at least he was out here genuinely to support the team (well, just Hiei Jaganshi) and not to pad his grade with extra credit. Of course, he didn't need to.

While his classmates around him talked, Kurama passed the time reading a book he had brought with him. If it was not for Kurama being who he was, his classmates might have thought he was rude to start reading and essentially giving them the notice that he did not want to talk to them. But Kurama Minamino was never rude and he was very studious, so his classmates thought nothing of Kurama burying himself in a book while they talked around him. Besides, if need be, Kurama could comment on topic when prompted and without losing his place.

After two and half chapters read, Kurama checked over the top of his book. It was getting close for the first event, and thus the meet, to start. Kurama figured the wait would not be much longer.

"Excuse me. Excuse me, everyone," broadcasted the student announcer, a boy whose voice Kurama recognized but could not place a face and name to. "Due to reasons that have not been given to this announcer, the boys' 400m sprint will be postponed until such delay can be resolved. Thank you."

"Bet someone failed their pee test and now they have to scramble for a replacement," said the girl to Kurama's right, eliciting laughs and disbelief from various individuals within their company. Kurama turned a page.

It was another twenty minutes before the first event started. Hiei was not participating in it, so Kurama kept on reading. Event after event and boys' lineup after boys' lineup was announced and yet Hiei was not a part of any of them. For their lackluster record not providing much of any expectation, Sacred Heart was doing well. They traded off first-places with one other school and as it were, they were one away from tying in number.

As they readied and prepared the track for the final boys' event and Kurama did not see Hiei anywhere, Kurama suspected that Hiei had been scheduled to run the boys' 400m.

 _Perhaps the delay is in finding Hiei_ , Kurama considered. _It would not be surprising out of him if he did refuse to appear._

And then, there was an announcement. "Attention. Attention. After the boys' and girls' hurdle relay, the track will be cleared and the boys' 400m will take place. Thank you."

He would find out then if his speculation was correct, Kurama supposed. Until then, he would continue on with his book. The girls' came in second in their relay, but while they did do well, their overall wins did not compete with any of the other participating schools. The boys' did win their relay and now Sacred Heart was tied in wins overall with one other school. It was down to the 400m to determine which.

Track cleared of hurdles, the participating boys made their way to the starting line. Seeing a familiar splash of dark, unruly spiked hair finally make its appearance and watching its wearer begrudgingly drag his steps to his position in the lineup, Kurama noted his page number and set his book down onto his lap.

As final preparations were being made and another school's student celebrity—the delay apparently was for him to arrive—showboated to his school and the girls in the stand, Hiei waited impatiently in his lane, a sour look on his face and his hands clenched at his sides, what with no pockets in his yellow (except for a navy blue band down the sides) lightweight shorts.

Kurama had to admit that Hiei did not look like he belonged there. He looked the part, yes, in his track uniform in Sacred Heart's colors. However, he did not necessarily fit the mold of a runner's build. In comparison to his competition, he was shorter, smaller, and the least enthused to be there. Other students, including those in Kurama's company, were already sinking Sacred Heart's chances of taking the overall win for the boys. Kurama sat patiently and smiled or smirked—he made it too difficult to distinguish.

The runners took their marks. As they did so, their names and schools they represented were announced. It was all girlish shrieks and applause when it came to the famous boy, which spilled over into the applause for the rest of the participants. The stands were nearly silent, however, when it was Hiei's turn to be announced.

"…and in lane four, Hiei Jaganshi, Sacred Heart." The few that did applaud did it only out of politeness and discomfort. Hiei did get one encouraging shout from Botan, which he responded to with the harshest glower he had ever given at her audacity to cheer for him. After that, any other desire to show support to him was promptly discarded.

To the standard call of ready, set, go, the boys were off, accompanied by announcer commentary.

"And it's the fan favorite Tomona breaking away. He seems to be in prime form today, though we could expect nothing less from the Rising Prince of Track..." The student announcer did his job with the exuberance necessary, though his tone had a quality to it that the winner was already decided.

Kurama waited and watched Hiei, currently in third place and not running half as well as he had in supposed secrecy after the tryouts. There was a possibility that Hiei would not run to win just to spite the Academy, but if Kurama knew anything about Hiei Jaganshi, he knew that the boy's pride would not let him fail.

"Into the final stretch, it's Tomo—Holy S-Son of God…" The announcer's voice trailed off and joined the others in open-mouthed, stunned awe as Hiei passed the so-called Rising Prince. Kurama's smile turned more clearly into a smirk, not that anyone noticed.

After Hiei crossed the finish line, there was a distinct pause of silence from everyone, though not as profound as the silence from Sacred Heart.

Only the student announcer's staggered stutterings finally ended the silence. "Ja-Jaganshi wins. S-Sacred Heart wins overall for the boys."

Every Sacred Heart student out there rose up and cheered. Kurama stood smiling within the fervent crowd. The cheering and school pride continued on even as students filed out of the stands. When he could and without notice, Kurama took his leave of his company and headed off to find Hiei.

It did not take long for Kurama to find Hiei. It was all a matter of following the roar of celebration, listening for the violent cursing at the center of it, and then looking up. A crowd of students and fellow track members were hoisting and carrying Hiei around in victory. And to say that Hiei was not pleased was an understatement.

Hiei kicked and screamed and cursed and fought in failed attempts for freedom. He writhed and bucked and arched away from their many touching hands but could not get away. He ordered to be put down and threatened to hurt anyone who had their hands on him, but none of his words were heard, or if they were, they weren't taken seriously. There was too much joy at hand for Hiei's negativity to be listened to.

Kurama hurried to reach the crowd and make his way through it. Perhaps if they did not listen to Hiei's clearly agonized demands, they would listen to him. And if not, perhaps Kurama could reach Hiei and bring him down himself.

But before Kurama could reach the crowd, Hiei's screaming stopped.

And soon after the hands fell and dropped Hiei.

"Someone! Get the nurse!" a student in the crowd shouted.

Students stood around, staring down in fear and uncertainty. Teachers came running. Someone finally paid attention and went to get the school nurse. Kurama slipped through and between the surrounding crowd of students to get to Hiei.

Kurama arrived to see Hiei lying on the ground, drawing and gasping for breath as if his airway was closing up, his eyes rolled back, his body rigid and convulsing.

-o-

Hiei awoke quite unsure of where he was or how he had gotten there. Much of his memory to a certain point after his win was blurry or not there at all. What he did remember was a lot of touching. A lot of touching all over his body at once. The crawling he normally felt became clawing, like layer after layer of skin was ripped raw to the muscle and then bone. His touched flesh had burned like acid thrown on his skin and the burn was steady, even, and at an all-consuming pace and one not particularly rushed to meet its end. And he had been trapped, forced to endure this pain, screaming for it to stop but no one had listened. His memory blacked from there.

He opened his eyes slowly, stopping at halfway. Hiei didn't see much, not that there was much to see. White sheets, white pillow, white walls were all that Hiei saw in his hooded view. The place did have a distinct sanitary smell, which explained more to Hiei about where he was than anything else.

Hearing the nearby sound of a book snapping shut and realizing he wasn't alone, Hiei fully opened his eyes. Sitting by his bedside was Minamino, his eyes and smile gentle.

"Good afternoon, Hiei," he said softly.

Hiei did not respond. Instead, he sat up in bed and looked around. Though he had never been here before, it was clearly the nurse's office. It was a rather plain room and nearly indistinguishable from any other school nurse's office.

"You were moved here and allowed to rest after the nurse treated your convulsion," Minamino explained. "…You gave everyone quite a fright. It was truly terrifying."

Hiei scoffed, "It's their own fault."

Minamino wore a pleasant smile. "Good to see you back to health." He offered Hiei a cup of ice water and Hiei took it.

Arguing voices outside the nurse's office grew louder and more recognizable as they drew nearer. It was no secret to either Hiei or Minamino as to who was outside. It was all a matter of them opening the door (or in their case, swinging it open and letting the door crack against the wall) and coming in.

Yusuke entered first, a bitter expression on his face that only grew worse at seeing Minamino sitting beside Hiei. "No surprise here," he grumbled.

He turned to leave immediately only to be blocked off by the door of Kuwabara's body. He fought with Kuwabara in angry, muttered voices. From what Hiei understood, Yusuke was backing out of an agreement the two had made, an agreement that seemed to involve Hiei.

"But you agreed," Kuwabara said as their voices rose to regular speaking tones.

"I agreed to nothing!" Yusuke said back and tried pushing Kuwabara out of the way.

Like an ox in mud, Kuwabara did not budge and held his ground. "Urameshi, you said you'd do it. Now be a man and do it."

Yusuke tried to be stubborn but Kuwabara pushed him toward Hiei. "All right, I'm doing it! Sheesh…" he growled and threw Kuwabara a look over his shoulder.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Yusuke stood glaring down at the floor. At first, he sulked and refused to finally do what he had said he would finally do until he at last saw no other recourse and gave in.

"I'm sorry, Hiei," Yusuke said, "for everything I said. For real this time."

Hiei did not believe him and watched him with a skeptical eye. Memories and embers of anger from his last 'apology' stirred in Hiei.

 _He better be telling the truth_ , Hiei thought. _If Yusuke pulls the same shit as the last time…well, Minamino better not try to stop me from punching him._

"I saw what happened after the meet and for someone to react like that you're clearly not doing it for the attention. I guess you're not as much like…" His eyes darted over and narrowed at Minamino. "…Minamino as I thought. So I'm sorry I said it."

Hiei thought and considered and then turned his head to the side, briefly closed his eyes, and said, "Hn. No different than any other stupid thing you've said."

"Then it shouldn't be that hard to forgive me then."

"In theory," Hiei said, facing Yusuke once more. "In practice, I don't know."

Yusuke stifled a laugh and smiled wryly. "I'm glad nothing's happened to that winning personality of yours."

"Yea, what the hell happened to you anyway?" Kuwabara asked as he stepped away from the doorway and stood beside Yusuke. "It looked like it hurt. Does it?"

"Do I look like I'm in pain?" Hiei growled back.

"No, but I thought I'd ask…" he muttered defensively. "…Nice to know you're okay."

"Yea, same here," Yusuke concurred, his voice and broad smile both genuine.

Hiei could not stand to look at Yusuke's smile for too long and averted his stare only to find Minamino also smiling at him. The room was filled with an overwhelming good feeling, a relieved feeling. One that Hiei knew had been all for him. They had been concerned for him. That worry, with Kuwabara's urgings, had brought out an honest apology out of Yusuke.

And Minamino…

Well, what he had done hadn't been that important. All he had done was sit and wait for Hiei to wake up. Patiently at his bedside. And, if it wasn't for Yusuke and Kuwabara showing up, he would be the only one here with him. No one else would have cared to. Not that it mattered or bothered Hiei. He didn't care.

There was one thing he was certain about—Hiei was thankful he wasn't really sick at all so that he could get the hell out of here.


	11. Chapter 11

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho is not mine, yeah?

-o-

Chapter Eleven: The Last Great Persuasion

-o-

It was three in the morning, a time when most students slept, unless they were insomniacs or crying recent ex-girlfriends. Kurama Minamino was neither of those but he was awake. Being up all night from Sunday evening into Monday early morning was not the best time and did not bode a good morning for him but it was what his schedule demanded.

Checking the clock, it was still another thirty minutes before he could take the bubbling solution off the heat. Kurama went back to his plant taxonomy pages for Father Namame, determined to finish ten pages by the end of the night. It wasn't difficult work, more tedious than anything else. While Father Namame enjoyed fieldwork and collecting samples, paperwork did not catch his fancy. Years of unclassified specimens thrived in the greenhouse or in albums as dried examples and they were all left to his students to identify and classify. Until Kurama adopted the task, no one else had put a dent in organizing Father Namame's chaos.

Twenty minutes later, Kurama at last had ten pages completed and a large album of dried samples classified. He rose from his seat and walked around the empty laboratory, both to give his legs a stretch and to keep himself awake, and prepared a second workspace. He also contemplated on how to fake a rested appearance. It was times like these that Kurama disliked the Academy's impressions of him. For any other student, sleeping in past breakfast or missing classes would be unalarming things. Even the more devoutly studious could get away with a break once in a while.

Not Kurama Minamino.

He could never do anything like that. Ever. If he did, Kaitou's suspicions would immediately be triggered and Kurama could not allow that. And, along with the existence of gravity and that the earth was round, there was another irrefutable universal fact the Academy wholly believed—that Kurama Minamino was the perfect student.

Only one of those truths was actually false.

As far as the Academy knew, Kurama Minamino was incapable of exhaustion, even with his heavy workload and generous offers of aid. He also did not get sick at all. Not even the sniffles. And, aside from something truly catastrophic happening to him or the Academy simply ceasing to exist, Kurama Minamino did not miss class. Even when he wanted to or if it was better for him if he did.

Kurama took the bubbling solution off the heat and poured it in even measures into three tempered vials. From there, he quickly dropped and mixed one chemical into one vial and did the same with another chemical into another and labeled them, "A" and "B". The third, untouched vial he labeled "Base 2".

Setting these three vials aside and giving some time for the chemicals to integrate with the base solution before he had to chill them to stunt their further modification, Kurama quickly cleaned up this station and moved on to his second prepared station.

Kurama checked the microscope on a slide of cells saturated in his "Base 1" solution. He scrutinized every inch, searching and hoping to find something that clearly would not be found with this concoction. Once assured there was no use in looking anymore, Kurama rose from the microscope and, with a heavy sigh, turned to his notes.

 _'No Effect'_ , he wrote under results and beside that he added, _'Failure'._

-o-

If Hiei had been told what would have happened after his victory sprint, he would have not only never shown up but most likely would have quit the team, to hell with Takenaka. But that was all looking in hindsight. Truth remained that he had won and now he had to deal with the consequences.

"Good morning, Jaganshi," said the sixth student in a row as he headed from the dorms to the dining hall. Hiei, his hands in his pockets and his arms pressed tightly against his equally-tense body, threw the boy a deep scowl before he went back to keeping his head down and eyes out of anyone's attention.

The Academy was talking to him. Students were being sociable with him. Hiei hated it. He didn't want anyone to talk to him. He didn't want their congrats and pats on the back. He didn't want them looking at him. He just wanted to be alone. Or at least for things to be as they were before his track win last Saturday.

His solitude was broken. Give a few days (or at most a week) of deep, cold anger and Hiei thought he could get his reputation back. After all, he had to. Hiei couldn't live like this. He couldn't stand it. He didn't see how Minamino did. It was too much focus, too much attention. The only reason Hiei could see why Minamino would want to be and stayed popular was only if he actually _liked_ the Academy's overwhelming devotion. The thought disgusted Hiei.

After several warning glares, blatant dodging of physical contact, and baring of teeth, Hiei finally made it to the dining hall, through the service line, and to his table.

"You walk or did they carry you here?" Yusuke asked, smirking.

 _'Shut the hell up'_ , read Hiei's glare. It did nothing to crush Yusuke's smirk. He had obviously heard and was amused by Hiei's newfound fame at the Academy. Mostly because he understood how much Hiei absolutely hated it.

"I'm glad none of this popularity has gone to your head," Yusuke said as he made a quick scan of Kuwabara's plate as he sat down beside him. If he saw anything he wanted, Yusuke didn't make it known. "Otherwise you might've turned into an arrogant jerk."

"How ever would we have coped," Kuwabara teased. "Or noticed a difference."

Kuwabara and Yusuke grinned at one another before Yusuke revealed he had already taken Kuwabara's toast and sausage and the grins collapsed into quarreling and a struggle. Not that Hiei minded. He was quite okay with an early start to their arguing. After all, it left Hiei mostly alone and Hiei saw nothing wrong with that.

Too bad the rest of the Academy would no longer leave him alone.

"Hey, Hiei, awesome win," said a girl while her two friends giggled at her sides. "You're pretty cool now, you know that? Well, you always sorta were. Mysterious, brooding loner boys always are. But no one could really get near you before. Kinda was afraid to. But if you ever wanted some company—"

Hiei turned and shot the girls a dark look that immediately sent the trio away crying. Yusuke and Kuwabara snickered, Yusuke in particular had a look that promised he wasn't about to let this go without exploiting it for all its comedic potential.

"Gregarious as ever, Hiei," Minamino said as he sat down beside him. "Though you could grant them some credit. It is very brave of them to approach you and this early in the morning."

"Being brave and being too stupid to avoid danger are different," Hiei replied.

"I see your point," Minamino said. "You would think their self-preservation instinct would kick in."

Hiei stared sidelong over at Minamino and saw him smile at him. There was an hint of playful teasing to his smile. Hiei looked away at once and huffed quietly.

"I don't get it," Kuwabara said. "Hiei's win was cool and all, but the way everybody's acting… They're like vultures."

"Except vultures only consume dead rotting flesh," Minamino said. "They are not even waiting."

There was a heavy pause. Kuwabara stared at his plate for a moment or two and then laid his raised forkful of eggs down and pushed his tray toward Yusuke. Hiei kept right on eating.

"Bet you're a riot at dinner parties, Minamino," Yusuke said before he helped himself to Kuwabara's untouched portions.

Another awkward silence fell between the four. They still weren't used to Minamino sitting with them. Anything Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei would have discussed wouldn't be, what with Minamino beside them. Kuwabara appeared uncomfortable and rapped his fingers on the table. Yusuke needled his glare into Minamino and ripped into a piece of toast as if he was biting off Minamino's head. Hiei didn't care, though he was ready to stab Kuwabara's hand if he didn't stop tapping.

And Minamino, normally the source of endless polite conversation, did not appear to be in a talkative mood this morning or, at least, he did not press any idle chat onto them. If Hiei had to say, as he snuck a glance, he thought Minamino looked tired. He thought he saw shadows underneath his eyes. Hiei didn't believe it to be so. He convinced himself it was just the cafeteria lighting and the angle of his head making shadows appear under Minamino's eyes.

But, as usual, Minamino was the one to break the silence. He placed his school briefcase on his lap and unbuckled it. He pulled out a folded-up newspaper and, with a little more inspection, Hiei noticed it was a school paper.

"I actually brought something I believe you might—" Yusuke snatched the paper out of Minamino's hand and Minamino didn't even appear surprised, "find interesting. Page four, Yusuke, if you will, please."

Yusuke tossed Minamino a sneer but followed his direction nonetheless. Kuwabara leaned toward Yusuke and read over his shoulder.

"Sacred Heart's seven-year winless streak was shattered last Saturday," Yusuke read aloud, skipping the next few parts and anything he deemed uninteresting, which boiled down to him only reading the parts concerning Hiei. " …With the boys' overall win captured by Hiei Jaganshi, a fourth-year who is described as a loner, foul-tempered, and always frowning."

"That about sums it," Kuwabara said, nodding.

"Along with the aforementioned, teammates describe him as quiet, aloof, and someone they generally avoid. 'He keeps his distance on the field and off,' as teammate," Yusuke didn't give a damn to read his name, "puts him. 'He's always alone, doesn't seem to have any friends. Minamino sits with him at meals all the time though. I guess you could count him.'"

Teeth clenched and plastic fork bending in his tightening fist, Hiei hunched down into his school uniform and simmered. _I have a teammate and a student reporter to murder…_

"Just Minamino?" Kuwabara said, visibly affronted. "What does that make us?"

"Invisible," Yusuke said bitterly. "Geez, Minamino, the article has nothing to do with you and you still get mentioned."

"I hardly possess the power to censor them," Minamino said.

Yusuke snorted in disbelief. He and Hiei shared the same opinion that if Minamino truly wanted to, he could probably get anything he wanted from the Academy.

"What's-his-face goes on to say, '…But he's an amazing runner. There's no denying that. He's not much of a team player but he comes through. He's a valued member of our team.'" Yusuke grinned over the top of the paper. "Aww, how's it like being a part of a group?"

Veins twinged in Hiei's forehead. "Keyword is _valued_ ," Hiei growled back. "I serve a function, nothing more, nothing less. They wouldn't give a damn if I didn't serve to their benefit."

Yusuke tipped his head to the side in manner that said he couldn't disagree with Hiei's logic. He then finished reading the article, "...Following his victory, Jaganshi suffered an unexplained attack and required immediate medical attention. A few hours later, he was deemed well and released from the nurse's office. Jaganshi has refused to provide comment on his victory or on his medical emergency."

"'Refused to provide comment'," Kuwabara grinned. "Polite way of saying he threatened to kick his ass."

Hiei did not refute Kuwabara's words. He was actually right. For once.

Yusuke folded up the newspaper and tossed it back to Minamino. "All hail Hiei, the Prince of Track," he said with sarcasm.

Hiei scowled.

"Lighten up," Yusuke grinned wryly. "I'm just busting your chops. It's what friends do."

"I don't have any friends," Hiei said.

"Just Minamino," Yusuke and Kuwabara said at once.

Hiei readied a response and then closed his mouth into a tight line. "Shut up," he grumbled, his voice low and full of resentment, and tipped his head downward and to the side to obscure his flush, not sure if the heat on his cheeks came from indignation or…well, Hiei couldn't think of anywhere else it could have came from.

Minamino did not respond in any way—neither confirming nor denying.

-o-

There were plans to be made, which was why Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei were up on the rooftop of the Science Hall, instead of in Minamino's tutorial class. It wasn't like they had much of a choice in not skipping—after all, they couldn't discuss plans at meals with Minamino sitting with them and Hiei's track practice and daily detention could not be missed. And Yusuke was far too impatient to wait until later that evening or for another day.

Yusuke and Kuwabara sat cross-legged across from one another. "We did that last year, stupid," Yusuke growled, his stare flat in annoyance.

Kuwabara held his head up high and stood by his suggestion. "A classic deserves to be repeated."

"Like school years," Hiei said. Back leaning against the protective high metal fencing with his legs stretched out before him, Hiei sat away from the two.

Kuwabara tossed Hiei a quick glare and then focused back on Yusuke. "Don't you laugh, Urameshi. If there's anyone here who's gonna repeat a year, it's you. And I'll have you know, short stuff, I'm passing. Can you say the same?"

Hiei gave an I-don't-have-to-tell-you-anything grunt and crossed his arms over his chest. Truthfully, he was barely passing. Hiei wasn't stupid. He just chose to keep his grades low. It was a lot less stupid homework he had to do and time wasted if he just didn't do most of his assignments.

Yusuke held his chin, looked down, and thought. "We've got to hit Iwamoto with what he hates the most."

"Us?" Kuwabara said.

Yusuke waved his hand dismissively. "More than that."

"Hiei?"

"Looking for a thing, not a person," Yusuke said derisively.

Not that Kuwabara's suggestions were entirely wrong—they were, in fact, 100% correct—just not useful. Hiei gave some passing thought on what Iwamoto hated most and Hiei's first answer to mind was himself as well.

From his spell of brainstorming, Kuwabara looked up and said, "Minamino."

Anger flashed across Yusuke's face at Kuwabara's yet-again-impractical response but noticing his gaze Yusuke followed suit and peered over his shoulder. Minamino indeed stood in the propped-open doorway.

"What the hell do you want?" Yusuke asked curtly.

"You are late for class," Minamino said.

"No shit, Minamino. We're not coming," Yusuke said. "How'd you find us anyway?"

Without a word, Minamino stepped out of the doorway and off to the side. His actions proved to be a serviceable explanation.

"Because you're so predictable, Yusuke," Keiko said.

"Gah! K-Keiko?" Yusuke shouted in shock, standing in an awkward, jumped-back position. "What are you doing here? Don't you have a class to teach?"

Keiko stood firm with her hands on her hips. "Yes, but Minamino asked for my help in finding you."

Yusuke glared at Minamino.

"Don't glare at him!" Keiko ordered. "He wouldn't need to ask me if you went to class more than once a week and that's only because I escort you myself."

"He wouldn't need to ask you if he didn't stick his nose in other people's business!"

"I want you to pass my class, Yusuke," Minamino said, the only levelheaded voice in the conversation.

Yusuke snorted. "I bet that's why."

"Why are you being such a jerk to Minamino?"

"He knows why."

"Actually, Yusuke," Minamino interceded, "I do not."

"Yea, I bet you don't," Yusuke said, tossing Minamino a cold eye. "Like you supposedly don't know Hiei's birthday either."

"He doesn't," Hiei said, sour.

The arguing continued. Minamino tried to mediate but Yusuke shot down all of his attempts, which only provoked Keiko's temper and restarted the fight. It ran for several more cycles before Hiei lost interest and gained a headache. He, quite frankly, wanted it to end already so everyone would shut the hell up.

Hiei rose and stood beside Kuwabara. Not that he particularly wanted to. It was just quite apparent that Kuwabara was the only one who could possibly provide an explanation, what with Yusuke wrapped up in shouting with his girlfriend and Minamino having admitted to no knowledge. It wasn't as if Hiei had any other option but Kuwabara.

Hiei huffed irritably before he asked, "What the hell is this all about?"

"It was wrong from the start," Kuwabara murmured to Hiei. "I got out in the planning stages, but Urameshi went on and the prank went bad. Urameshi got busted big time. Wonder he didn't get expelled. His mom pays for it now. Literally. It's a hell of a burden on her. I can't figure how she pays for Urameshi to go here, now topple that on…"

While somewhat important, none of that interested Hiei. "What does any of that have to do with Minamino?"

"Urameshi told me later that Minamino caught him setting things up. He ran after him but Minamino disappeared. Right to Takenaka."

Hiei noticed then how quiet the rooftop suddenly was as Keiko had stopped arguing and listened to Kuwabara. Minamino also directed his attention toward Kuwabara. Yusuke was the only one that apparently objected to the story being told.

Kuwabara put his hands in his pockets and met Yusuke glare for glare. "I can kinda see why Urameshi hates Minamino for telling but the prank was his fault. He can only blame himself. Probably does, but he blames Minamino so he doesn't have to feel guilty over his mom's predicament."

"Kuwabara…" Yusuke said peevishly through his gritted teeth. "You really are a snitch."

"Is that why you've been angry at Minamino all this time?" Keiko asked, commencing round two, or three—Hiei wasn't really counting. "You're such a child!"

"Don't I have some right?" Yusuke shouted back. "If _he_ hadn't snitched, nothing would've happened."

"Nothing? _Nothing?_ " Keiko's stare could have pierced through any armor. "Yusuke, your stupid idea put three boys in critical care! And thank god, it was only that! You could've gotten yourself killed, you know! Did you ever think about that? Of course, you didn't."

"Geez, Keiko, nothing happened. I didn't get hurt, so lay off—"

"Yusuke, you're such an idiot," she said, the heat and anger gone from her voice but nonetheless taut with worry. "Do you think I wanted to see you hurt? Or dead? You think you can joke around but you take things too far. That wasn't a prank. You didn't just want to get back at them. You wanted to _hurt_ them. So much you didn't care what happened to yourself."

Keiko's anger transmuted to sadness as she bowed her head and held her hurt stare against the floor. "I couldn't let you go through with it. Not just because you could've died but because of what you would've done after if you hadn't gotten caught. Your mom didn't deserve the debt but you had to be stopped. I don't regret telling Father Takenaka and I never will."

Yusuke blinked. "Wait! _You_ told? You're the one who snitched?"

"Yes!" Keiko said sharply, meeting Yusuke's stare. "And if I knew you blamed and begrudged Minamino all this time, I would've told you sooner! Not that you would've believed me. You're so impossible."

"I…uh…but Minamino—he…"

"I was there and I did see you, Yusuke, but I did not tell." A faint smile appeared through Minamino's calm. "It was, after all, none of my business."

A great deal of air blew out from Yusuke as he sighed, threw up arms in defeat, and bowed over.

"Yusuke, you know what you have to do now," Keiko said, her hands back on her hips and command lining her voice.

Yusuke groaned.

" _Yusuke._ "

Hiei couldn't decide on which image suit Yusuke more—a balloon slowly deflating or a children's inflatable pool losing all its water. And then there was a third option—an air mattress crushed under the mass of a sumo wrestler. That image seemed to be the most suited for Yusuke's situation, and if even not, Hiei knew the image had to be of something losing a lot of something needed to keep its shape because of something much greater and much stronger pressing down on it.

And Yusuke had lost much of his superiority and arrogance. He seemed very much 'deflated', bowed over as he was. Yusuke was lucky this had taken place on the rooftop and not in a more public space for all of the Academy to see the great and terrible delinquent extraordinaire Yusuke Urameshi get chastised into submission by his all-but-in-name girlfriend.

With a final begrudging moan, Yusuke surrendered. "I'm sorry, Minamino!" he said quickly and with much reluctance. "You're still an overblown, goody-goody know-it-all but you're not a snitch."

"Fair enough," Minamino said. "I accept your apology, Yusuke."

Hiei and Yusuke, as Yusuke turned away, were all under the same impression that it was all over now and they could go back to planning and Minamino and Keiko would go away. And then Minamino prompted why he was here again in the first place.

"Ah, might I remind you that class has already begun and the three of you are tardy."

Yusuke circled back around with an incredulous look on his face. Kuwabara shrugged his shoulders and didn't at all seem surprised. Hiei obstinately turned his head to the side.

"You are such a pain," Yusuke irritably muttered not at all underneath his breath.

-o-

If Father Akashi thought cleaning out the lab mice cages would disgust and anger Hiei, he was a greater fool than Hiei already thought. The stink, while not great, was far better than the boys' bathrooms, and after scrubbing every toilet and having silently observed the people around him for all his fifteen years, Hiei was firmly in the belief that people were more disgusting than animals but were too pompous to believe otherwise.

At first, a few of the mice nipped at him, though in the mice's defense his hands probably did smell of snack cakes. But once news spread through the mice community that his fingers weren't food, the mice pretty much let Hiei go about his work. Hiei hardly considered this much of a detention, not when Akashi left him alone in the room, albeit locked, and not since Hiei spent some of the time messing with the mice.

A mouse on his shoulder, Hiei went about cleaning its cage while the small white mouse rubbed its face with its pink paws. There were walls of cages Hiei had to clean, all holding at least one albino mouse. There were other animals in the lab as well, as Hiei had discovered after looking around, and some of which their cages Hiei also had to clean, like the albino rabbits. He had found the extensive basement lab also held quite a collection of snakes, a few lizards, and the largest damn tarantula Hiei had ever seen—he had taken a fifteen minute break just to marvel at it. All in all, for a detention, this one was pretty awesome.

There were thoughts bouncing around and stringing together in Hiei's head. Somehow, there was someway of utilizing some of the animals in prank, Hiei was certain. However, he had reservations—after all, the animals didn't deserved to be put in harm's way for their stupidity. But it seemed like an idea to keep in mind.

"You have any better ideas, Minamino?" Hiei, fully aware it wouldn't respond and knowing he was completely alone in the room, asked the mouse.

None of the mice had official names, just numbers, and while it probably already had a name, Hiei called the mouse, 'Minamino'. Mostly because it hadn't stopped squeaking since Hiei approached its cage. The mouse seemed to share Minamino's loquacious nature, his detailed care to cleanliness, and, at the right angle and light, a bit of his appearance so thus the name stuck.

To Hiei's question, Minamino the mouse scratched behind his large pink ears and squeaked on. About what, Hiei would never know but it seemed awfully important. For all Hiei knew, Minamino the mouse could have been laying out the grand plans for successful world domination.

Two and a half hours later and Hiei had all the mouse cages cleaned. Akashi didn't say when he was coming back to dismiss Hiei for the night but Hiei didn't care. The rat-faced bastard probably thought he was getting to him by leaving him down there but Hiei was with good company. Having grown to like his quiet environment, lonely but for the animals, he actually found his inevitable dismissal disappointing.

Deciding to take a break before tackling the rabbit hutches, Hiei sat on the floor and leaned his back against the wall. Minamino the mouse remained on his shoulder and sniffed the air. Hiei found a broken bit of a cookie in his pocket and gave it to the mouse.

"A mouse scientist might know but I think only you can answer this," Hiei, purposely ignoring the fact he was talking to himself, said to Minamino the mouse. "Are you aware of your life? Do you know you live in a cage? That everything is provided and done for you so all you have to do is act like a mouse is supposed to while we observe? Do you know there is a larger world above?"

Minamino the mouse enthusiastically nibbled the vanilla cookie and made higher-pitched squeaks, ones Hiei interpreted as happy.

"I suppose ignorance is bliss for you, Minamino," Hiei said.

Hiei let the mouse finish the rest of the cookie before he got up and headed over to the rabbit hutches. Everything was going fine with cleaning the hutches—the rabbits didn't give a damn about Hiei's presence—until Hiei felt paws on his neck and little whiskers brushing on his earlobe. The mouse was exploring its surroundings.

"Stop it, Minamino," Hiei said as he picked up the mouse and set it back on his shoulder.

He could tolerate the mouse's feel on his shoulder well enough to put up with it, but not with it touching his uncovered skin. It wasn't quite as strong an aversion as he felt with human touch, but mice hands were a lot smaller than human hands. The mouse's touch did trigger a series of warning signals, all of which compounded and forced Hiei to immediately correct the problem.

Not that the mouse could understand Hiei's human body language and speech. No sooner had Hiei returned to his work, Minamino the mouse grew brazen and scurried under Hiei's shirt collar. Hiei dropped the rabbit's now-clean pan and frantically snatched at the wildly-speeding and _smart_ mouse, its every touch like a pushpin into his skin. In time, however, the mouse's mad run came to an end.

Hiei pulled the mouse from out of his undershirt and held it up to face-level. The mouse kicked its dangling legs, but otherwise squeaked normally and blinked its pink-red eyes innocently at Hiei.

"Back to your cage," Hiei growled and did just that.

The mouse sniffed about and, seemingly recognizing its surroundings, started quickly digging a space out of its bedding.

As he watched the mouse dig and then curl up into its self-made hole, Hiei realized the mouse had just been looking for a warm burrow to sleep. It was, after all, a mouse.

"Sorry about yelling," Hiei murmured and went back to finish up the rabbit hutches.

At 10:15 p.m. Father Akashi finally returned to dismiss him. He gave no excuse as to why he was so delayed and Hiei didn't care—after all, he was getting credited for time worked that he didn't actually work. Akashi quickly gave a once-over of Hiei's work and, begrudgingly finding it acceptable, scribbled his signature on Hiei's timesheet. Hiei left the lab soon after.

For the less observant, the Science Hall's basement corridors were a veritable maze and an easy trap. On the way down, Akashi had not said much, at least nothing that wasn't a backhanded comment to him. Hiei made a note to prompt Minamino—the boy, not the mouse—into explaining the basement labs and their contents in greater detail.

Hiei was heading out of the Science Hall, thinking about whether or not to go to bed or to actually do some homework for once and hoping a better third option came to him quick when someone threw a cloth bag over his head and swept his feet from underneath him.

Hiei immediately fought back, a wide punch and swift kick making indeterminate contact with his assailant. Well, assailants. Hiei knew there was more than one of them. He counted one holding back his arms and other pinning his weight on Hiei's legs. The attackers themselves verified Hiei's suspicions.

"Hold him, you idiots!" a guy harshly whispered.

"We're trying," whined the other two as they struggled to keep Hiei down.

Hiei considered his options. Albeit muffled, he could still speak and shout if needed. The real problem was in who would hear him. Only teacher he knew of in the Science Hall was Akashi and he was still in the basement labs and Hiei doubted he would help him. He'd probably commend his kidnappers. There were no students he knew of around, so Hiei's best hopes were in the slim chance of a janitor crossing by happenstance.

And given the number of janitors the Academy actually employed and the Academy's preference to using students to keep the school clean and orderly, Hiei knew he was screwed.

The third guy, the leader Hiei assumed, securely tied up Hiei's arms and legs and ordered the other two to pick Hiei up and carry him outside. _I now know what it feels like to be a rolled up carpet,_ Hiei grumbled to himself.

"Don't use the front doors!" barked their leader in anger and disbelief. "Look at what you're carrying! You can't go out the front doors with him! _Jesus_ , am I the only one with any sense here?"

"I'd say not," Hiei said.

"Hush, you!" the lead guy ordered and then said to his lackeys, "Follow me."

His two minions obeyed and off Hiei went with them. Aside from the whole situation itself, something bothered Hiei. He swore he recognized the lead male's voice but he couldn't place it where he had heard it. As far as he knew, it could have been anyone from the Academy or even the orphanage. The voice just hadn't left that much of an impression on him to let him exactly remember where and who it belonged to. And being unable to figure it out irritated Hiei.

"For my sake, I hope you've thought this through," Hiei said, clearly bored. "This is insulting enough but I would at least prefer to be captured in a cunning, calculated plot than by some haphazard, dim-witted scheme. I do have some dignity to uphold."

"Shut up!" the guy squawked in indignation and punched Hiei hard on the back of his head.

In pain, Hiei clamped his eyes shut and grimaced. He cursed the guy violently and promised that as soon as he was freed he would get him back for that.

The lackeys followed the leader but as to where they were going, Hiei couldn't tell. They had taken him through to the back entrance and from the sound of their footsteps through grass and the feel of cool night air in his breaths and on his skin, Hiei determined they were outside. And several minutes later, as Hiei heard twigs snapping underfoot and wind rustling through scraping branches, he guessed they were taking him into the forest.

 _Great_ …Hiei thought. _It's all straight out of a cheesy horror flick. Next we'll be attacked by a wildman in a bad furry rubber suit or a supercroc, something like that. Unless this is a slasher. Then we'll probably be fine. Slashers don't kill virgins. Not too often. I'll roll the dice and hope this is a slasher._

_…If it's a zombie, I'm fucked._

They didn't take Hiei far into the woods. Hiei assumed they were far enough from the Academy's sight but not so deep that the morons couldn't still find their way back. When he found a suitable spot, their leader ordered Hiei to be dropped, put on his knees, and kept restrained. The lackeys followed without thought and when they were all done, their leader began to laugh.

"I bet you're wondering so much, Hiei Jaganshi. You're wondering where you are, what's going to happen to you, and who is that guy with the handsome, devilish voice?"

Even though a lot of things would make more sense if he did, Hiei still couldn't remember who the voice belonged to, though he had a pretty good clue it was someone who had pissed him off before.

"I thought about leaving the bag on, letting you never know and always to wonder, but I find myself wanting you to acknowledge the ingenious architect of your magnificent downfall. Generous of me, is it not?"

The guy tore the cloth bag off Hiei's head. Hiei looked up to see…What's-His-Face. Hiei cursed to himself. He recognized the boy, met him before, but just could not remember his name. Was it Suzuka? Suzaku?

The older boy was laughing again, a mad, pompous, mocking roar. He was the only one laughing, even the two boys keeping Hiei still were looking at their leader uncertainly. It seemed that even with their half-brains combined they could see what an idiotic clown—

 _Suzuki_ , Hiei finally remembered. And then hunched down into his school uniform, embarrassed at himself that a complete buffoon like Suzuki had captured him. It was like being outwitted by a damp sponge. Or Kuwabara. Same difference to Hiei.

"Oh but I have been very generous!" Suzuki said, head raised haughtily, as was the rest of him puffed out in self-importance. "Why, Minamino should thank me that I allow his academic success. If there was any true glory in academics as there is only in athletic achievement, I would have dealt with him years ago. He is quite lucky his fame is quite marginal in the eyes of the world."

Hiei's doubting snort went unheard underneath Suzuki's incessant crowing. Hiei was fairly certain that even if Suzuki put all his brainpower into beating Minamino, he'd still make short of the Top 50 rankings. And the overheating would probably kill him.

"But you, you, Hiei Jaganshi, are not so fortunate. In these past few days, your stardom has increased quite considerably in the eyes of the Academy. So much so that your fame _encroaches on mine._ "

At the last, Suzuki lost his arrogant but jovial cheer and snapped into a deeper tone, its bitter coldness and highlighted cruelty a stark contrast to his earlier brightness. Hiei did remember this about Suzuki—how the fool effortlessly changed between emotional extremes and from sane to insane when anything in the world proved itself that it didn't center around him. It was as if he suffered from an excessively-violent strain of PMS. Even Iwamoto could show more emotional restraint during provocation than this guy.

Back to cheery and proud, Suzuki beamed and raised his arms exultantly to the heavens. "Your success, your victory, your rising adulation in the Academy's athletic circle is a blockade on an otherwise uninterrupted flow of flattery, marvel, and praise. Oh, you should have heard them before—the halls hummed with the many voices speaking highly and abundantly of the Beautiful Suzuki, _the Beautiful Suzuki_ , THE BEAUTIFUL SUZUKI!" He dropped his arms, looked down on Hiei, and contorted his face back into a dark mask. "…And now, they talk of _YOU_!"

Being so flamboyantly theatrical, Hiei thought Suzuki should have gone for the Drama club instead of soccer, but then again, Suzuki wasn't that good of an actor. He was just flaming nuts.

"I was generous in allowing you a day or two of the Academy's attention, but now you've gone and stolen it all for yourself. I can't allow that, Jaganshi. It is mine, after all, all mine. It is just what is right, Jaganshi." Suzuki pulled out and opened a switchblade.

"Do you request your heart or jugular?" Suzuki asked with an inappropriately serene grin on his face. "Or would you rather I poke around and see what strikes my fancy?"

"Su-Suzuki, d-don't you think this is getting outta hand?" one of the lackeys asked.

The other boy agreed. "Y-Yea, isn't this a little much?"

"Cowards!" Suzuki snapped back. "You knew what this entailed! How dare you try and go back on the Beautiful Suzuki's magnificent plan!" He pointed the switchblade at them, the cutthroat-murder-if-you-backed-out-now look in his eyes clear.

"S-S-Suzuki, you s-said nothing about k-killing him!"

"W-We thought we were just gonna beat him up. Y'know, give a warning."

"Idiots!" Suzuki shouted. "That was never the plan! I said we were going to end this and we will!"

His lackeys gulped. "…Permanently."

" _Exactly,_ " Suzuki smirked wickedly.

Suzuki made his first step toward Hiei. "I am sorry, Jaganshi, but you've forced me. If you didn't have such a deep pathological need for attention, I wouldn't have to gut you and leave your dead body in the woods for who-knows-what to consume and bury. No hard feelings, 'kay?"

"You don't watch a lot of horror movies, don't you?" Hiei asked.

Crouched down in front of Hiei, Suzuki blinked. "Uh, what does that have to do with anything?"

"You're breaking the rules," Hiei said matter-of-factly. " …Unless this is a modern horror where virgin status doesn't matter at all as long as you don't fuck when the killer is around."

"W-What?" Suzuki, wide-eyed and stunned, fell back in disbelief. "You think this is a horror movie?"

"It's a lot more entertaining than believing this for what it really is," Hiei replied, still clearly bored.

Suzuki's face grew red as he made several angry, offended grunts.

"You talk too much for a slasher," Hiei said. "You stab and go. That's _it_. No gloating. No flowing speeches. You'll bore the audience otherwise."

Suzuki made a disgusted snort before he gripped the switchblade and raised it above his head. "See if I bore you now!"

Suzuki went flying to the right.

And in his place stood Yusuke, his leg cocked and ready for a second kick.

Yusuke dealt with Suzuki while Kuwabara handled his lackeys, who had tried to get away at first sight of Yusuke but had ran straight into Kuwabara in their blind fear. Hiei huffed, for several reasons. Partially for having been rescued—Hiei did not _need_ to be rescued. And partially because there was so much ass-kicking going on and he was stuck tied up and couldn't be a part of it. He, at least, wanted one shot at Suzuki. He was owed that.

"Are you all right?" asked Minamino. He appeared suddenly, much to Hiei's wonder as to how in the hell he crept up on him out of the forest without making any noise, and crouched down behind him. He began untying Hiei's ropes.

The fight was over quickly. Suzuki and his lackeys provided little to no resistance. That and they were clearly outmuscled in fighting performance. It wasn't a challenge for Yusuke or Kuwabara and this wasn't a fair fight. The only reason Yusuke and Kuwabara were giving them such a beating was out of amends for their actions against Hiei. They never would have bothered with their type before otherwise. Unless Suzuki smarted off to them at the wrong moment, and really only Yusuke was actually susceptible to such provocation.

Untied and finally able to stand up, Hiei knew Yusuke and Kuwabara deserved some sort of a thank-you from him. Not that Hiei had needed the help, but they still warranted an appreciation for the gesture of friendly aid they had given. Hiei didn't want to offer them one. Like apologies, Hiei rarely said thanks. And also like with apologies, having to give one made Hiei uncomfortable. Which was why Hiei was trying to stand aloof with his hands in his pockets, frowning and trying to figure out a way out of saying thanks.

With Suzuki beaten into unrecognizable mush and unconsciousness, Yusuke came over and stood near Hiei. He also caught Hiei staring at him. Hiei had allowed him to. He was kind of hoping to convey some sort of nonverbal gesture of appreciation to Yusuke with his unemotional stare so that he wouldn't actually have to say anything but still give what was due. The attempt had failed. Perhaps even backfired.

"Don't look at us for this," Yusuke said. "Minamino's the one who found and told us. He saved your ass."

Hiei looked over at Minamino, but seeing him smiling at him, he quickly turned away and made a stubborn grunt. As if he was about to thank him for his unwanted, unneeded help and especially not in front of Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"So what do we do now?" Kuwabara asked.

"Realistically, we should report Suzuki to Father Takenaka," Minamino replied.

"Except we'd have to turn ourselves in as well," Yusuke said. "And the only one he'll give leniency to is Minamino."

Even if their intentions were noble and good, it was against Academy rules to be in the forest without a teacher and obviously they were in trouble for beating up Suzuki and his lackeys. Takenaka would take their intentions and Suzuki's motives into consideration, but truthfully, they were in just as much trouble as Suzuki.

"So is this it?" Kuwabara said.

"Pretty much," Yusuke said and then turned to Suzuki's lackeys. "You speak a word and—"

"We won't! We swear! Please, no more!" the bruised and bloodied boys promised and begged. "We just wanna forget this ever happened."

"You will not," Minamino said. "A part of you will forever remind you of what you almost did tonight. You will dream of this night and relive your regret and cowardice in sharp detail. You will see what it would have been like if you had murdered Hiei. You will experience death in his place in other dreams. You will suffer a myriad of outcomes. Over and over. You think you just managed to skirt by evil tonight but evil is with you now. Acknowledge but do not embrace it."

Minamino's tone was much stricter and darker than any other he had ever used before. Hiei suspected this was a minor glimpse into an angry Minamino, a side of him Hiei had doubted even existed until now. Maybe. For all Hiei knew his speech could have all been a put-on. Even so, Hiei had it to admit it had a rather threatening undertone—it may have not been enough perhaps to intimidate someone like him but it could work well enough on this pair of whimpering weak-willed idiots.

"However," Minamino continued, his voice regaining some shred of optimism, "hopefully, tonight will embolden you to strengthen yourselves so that you never become susceptible to blind obedience again. Other than that, you must learn to live with your shame."

The boys hung their heads and nodded in agreement. And then slowly they began to leave and when no one stopped them, they bolted off as if they had found the devil.

And Kuwabara stood staring unnerved at Minamino. "You're a scary bastard when you talk like that, y'know?"

Hiei did not see if Minamino responded. He walked away and stood by Suzuki's laid out body and stared at his face.

"You all right?" Yusuke asked.

"You owe me," Hiei said.

Yusuke blinked. "Me owe you? You have things backwards, shrimp."

"You owe me one punch," Hiei explained and pointed at Suzuki's mashed-up face. "I had one to my credit and you left me nowhere."

"Uh, I guess I did," Yusuke considered as he scratched his cheek while he figured out means to solve their predicament. "Tell you what, I'll let you have a free shot on Kuwabara."

"What?" Kuwabara squawked and their words quickly fell to fists.

"It really is too easy," Minamino said as he came over and stood by Hiei as they watched insults and fists and kicks fly as Yusuke and Kuwabara handled their conflict resolution in their usual manner. Hiei knew it was all too easy. It was why he had provoked them in the first place.

"Does this serve your retribution?" Minamino added.

Hiei shrugged his shoulders. "…Might as well."

After ten minutes and none of Yusuke and Kuwabara's fury lessening and with them still watching from the sidelines, Minamino said to Hiei, "We should wait for them. It would be right."

"Go ahead. You baby-sit them," Hiei said as he turned to leave.

"I am afraid my plans do not allow for an all-night vigil," Minamino said as he followed Hiei. "They will be all right on their own, I do believe."

"Nope," Hiei said. "Zombies are attracted to noise."

To Hiei's wonder, though it might have been due to his completely deadpan delivery, Minamino laughed.

-o-

Hiei had a problem. Granted in the eyes of the world, it was a very small problem, if the rest of the world even considered it one, but it was a problem to him. Well, perhaps, it wasn't a problem at all. It really was more of a decision. It was quite a difficult decision for him. One he didn't really want to make, though he had to. Indecision otherwise meant standing at the end of the service line holding his lunch tray and staring at the longtables and looking like an idiot.

But he wished he wasn't in such a situation. It was all Yusuke's fault. If he hadn't smarted off, if he had held his temper, Takenaka wouldn't have given him a day in the Tower and Hiei wouldn't have to decide between sitting with Kuwabara and three boys he was clearly good friends with that Hiei never saw him around much (granted it wasn't as if he followed Kuwabara all day) and with Minamino, already with a few admirers around him.

He had his reasons for sitting with Kuwabara and his reasons for not. He had reasons for and against Minamino as well. It was all in the matter of which he disliked less, which annoyed him more, which he'd have to justify to himself more later.

Hiei thought. He had been doing a lot of that this morning. Ever since his typical five o'clock early rise. No, it had been before that. He had been thinking ever since he made it back to his dorm last night. He had been thinking about a lot of things and what they meant or could have meant, possibilities and outcomes, lies and truths, reasons, justifications, and facts. He had done a lot of thinking and not all of it he was entirely certain about and other things he had become quite positively sure about.

And he was still considering some things, which made it rather difficult to focus on the decision on hand. Some parts of his night of endless thoughts were pertinent in the current argument but otherwise muddled the conversation in his head and hindered his decision-making. But finally, Hiei had enough and he made his choice.

Hiei sat down beside Minamino. He found it miraculous that there was even an open seat beside him.

Minamino appeared unbothered but his admirers stared wide-eyed in a combination of shock and fear at Hiei. The few admirers around Minamino suddenly apologized to him and excused themselves from the table. Hiei heard them whispering about him as they all hastily left. Students at the longtable in front of them stared at him. Hiei sent them all focusing on their lunches with a harsh scowl.

" _Don't_ ," Hiei ordered as Minamino looked over at him and appeared about to speak.

Minamino merely smiled. At least, it would have looked like a smile to anyone sneaking glances but Hiei could see better. He knew it was a smirk. And a rather proud smirk at that.

 _Stupid Minamino_ , Hiei grumbled to himself. _Always right, insufferable know-it-all, too persistent and nosy for his own good, perfect and proper, constant pain in the ass, polite idiot_

_…who is my friend._


	12. Chapter 12

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: If I owed YYH, Hiei/Kurama (and Jin/Touya) would've been clearly canon. No ambiguity.

-o-

Chapter Twelve: The Influence of Cake, or How to Make Hiei Jaganshi Sociable For One Hour

-o-

Even though he finally acknowledged, though would never verbally admit, that he and Minamino were friends, Hiei wasn't certain if he liked having Minamino as a friend. His opinion was always changing, mostly to any playful-but-striking-right-on-a-nerve teasing by Minamino or any sort of prying he tried when Hiei wished to be anything but communicative. He wasn't certain if the things he hated outweighed the things…he could tolerate. Chalking it up to his near, no, complete lack of experience with having friends, there was a lot about his friendship with Minamino that left Hiei uncertain.

And so was Yusuke, though not quite to Hiei's extent. While he no longer antagonized Minamino, he had not embraced him as a friend either. Yusuke wasn't quite sure how to treat Minamino yet and wound up showing him indifference most of the time, unless Minamino was getting in the way of discussing prank plans.

It was the late middle of May and the past few weeks had gone by relatively uneventfully. Hiei hadn't dreamed anything, except for the few times he dreamed of hands tearing through his skin and cracking his ribcage in half to expose his beating heart, but as painful and disturbing as the dream was, it was still just a dream, not a memory, and Hiei was used to odd dreams. After all, there was nothing he could dream that was anything worse than what he had experienced in his waking life.

After Suzuki's failed homicide, things were reasonably normal and boring, though many things wound up turning normal and boring after a psycho pompous clown tries to kill you and leave you dead in the forest. It was just the regular course of things.

Hiei sometimes went to class and sometimes did his homework. He served his daily detention, paying for a hole in his wall that had been repaired weeks ago. He went to track practice and Minamino observed and studied from the stands—Hiei neither knew nor wished to know which he did more of. He pissed off Iwamoto as much as he could and found time here and there to drop in on Minamino the mouse and give him (or her?) a cookie.

In the library, Hiei sat, his chair tipped back onto two legs and his feet on the table. Minamino sat nearby, busy with homework. Most of the time Hiei spent with Minamino consisted of him sitting (or sometimes reading) while Minamino did homework, made review sheets for the tutorial class, looked for books, researched, noted, and read. At some point, they would talk until Minamino deemed his break was over or Hiei refused to say anything more. Their time together was quiet and unchanging. That suited Hiei just fine.

Minamino appeared to be working on an essay, if his steady writing spell was any indication. As he usually did, even when he was supposedly reading, Hiei watched him. Or, more accurately, he studied him.

Hiei wasn't sure of what he was looking for or what answers he was trying to find but he knew there were things he did not understand concerning Minamino and their friendship. Things like what friendship was and what someone does in a friendship. Maybe studying Minamino wasn't really a viable means but right now it was Hiei's only idea. Not like he knew to do anything else.

"If you are bored, I am, by no means, keeping you here. You are welcome to go as you please," Minamino said, not even pausing from his work. "However, if you wish for something to do, I suggest you complete your homework. I do not see why you have not already."

Hiei had not actually turned in a scrap of completed homework in two weeks. He usually just passed the assigned worksheet or a blank piece of paper in, not even bothering to scribble down his name at the top. Father Takenaka had scheduled they have an after-dinner chat about Hiei's homework situation this evening. Hiei wondered if he could use the excuse that he had too much homework to do to skip the headmaster's lecture.

"Either I'm a rebel fighting against an unjust, corrupt system that cruelly pits us against one another in the name of academic success." Hiei leaned back further in his chair and smirked. "Or I just don't give a damn."

"I know you are capable of completing it with ease."

"Yea, but that would require me doing my homework," Hiei said. "Defeats the purpose of me not doing my homework."

"It would be something you could do to terminate your boredom," Minamino peered up and over at Hiei and smiled. "Other than stare at me."

"I'm not staring," Hiei vehemently denied. "Your face is in my way."

"Oh, I see now." Minamino made a show of looking over his shoulder. "My face is clearly obstructing your view of a magnificent support column. Excellent choice. Very white. Very smooth."

Dropping the chair back on four legs, Hiei tossed Minamino a glare and stood up. Without another word, he disappeared into the book stacks. After all, he had better things to do than his homework or listen to Minamino's nonsense.

And it wasn't like Hiei getting up and wasting time searching for new reads while Minamino worked was anything out of the ordinary. It happened fairly regularly during their shared library time. Hiei wandered and came back when he either felt Minamino was close to completion or he simply grew too bored. That wasn't about to happen this time. He wasn't coming back. When he was done, Minamino would have to find him.

 _I wasn't staring_ , Hiei grumbled to himself.

-o-

 _A cockroach will crawl into any crevasse_ , Iwamoto thought bitterly as he glowered out a teacher's office window down at Hiei Jaganshi walking with Kurama Minamino. _Until the only thing you can do to rid yourself of it is tear down all the walls._

Iwamoto ground his teeth. Hiei Jaganshi was a cockroach and oh, did Father Iwamoto long to squash him. His presence had spread like an infection, striking first and foremost at the top with the headmaster, though it was no surprise to Iwamoto that Father Takenaka had been taken so easily. He cared for all the students but Takenaka had a special love for the scum. He wanted to nurture the weeds, make them grow into actual people worthy of the rest of society but forgetting the fundamental difference—weeds were not flowers, that weeds were meant to be plucked and killed.

 _Let a weed thrive in your garden_ , Iwamoto wasn't able to see Hiei Jaganshi's face since it was turned away but he recalled Kurama Minamino's amiable smile and how he spoke to Jaganshi on good terms. _And it will choke out all the other plant life._

And now, with his unbroken winning streak in races, Hiei Jaganshi's infection was spreading to the rest of the student body. He had been ignored or ridiculed during his first week but now students were starting to accept the foul little bastard. Not that Jaganshi was befriending anyone, but the damage was already done.

 _I will not let this proud institution's reputation go to the dogs because of one vile, smart-aleck imp,_ Iwamoto turned away from the window in disgust. _I swear I will crush Hiei Jaganshi. I will purge this school of his blight. I will do what I must._

_We will only have the best._

-o-

Kurama Minamino was very good at avoiding things and especially people he did not wish to confront. If social avoidance was a science, Kurama Minamino would be at the forefront of field discoveries. However, the subjects of his evasion were not always easily dissuaded and once in a while, he would be pursued by an exceptionally strong-willed soul.

Today's persistent shadow was Miss Kirisawa. They shared two classes, neither she excelled in, and she was a regular admirer of his. Kurama was fairly positive she harbored a mild crush on him, as did the majority of the female student body. Kirisawa herself was a cookie-cutter example of any cute but spoiled academy schoolgirl, her only distinguishing feature was being a little less stuck-up than the norm.

And she had something she wished to ask Kurama. A favor. No matter what sort of request it was, Kurama considered anything a type of favor. Shutting his room door behind him, he had caught her eye (after she had eagerly called his name from down the hall) and immediately knew she wanted something. A favor. One he had not the time or patience to fulfill.

He pretended to be lost in thought and ignored her. Thankfully, the stairs were not far from his room. She tried to hurry and follow him but he was outside and walking through shortcuts at a hurried pace that did not seem at all hurried to passersby before she could reach him.

As he expected, she could not overcome her ridiculous fear of Hiei to approach him and fortunately in their shared gym class, the teacher had separated the boys and girls. He could avoid her around campus and Hiei would deter her at meals, so if he could miraculously slip by her in their history class, he could easily elude her until she at last gave up on her futile endeavor.

But she was determined and Kurama was even more determined.

When their teacher finally dismissed the class, Kirisawa made quick work of calling Kurama's name and trying to reach his desk. Kurama calmly made his way toward the hall. His feint of feigned self-distraction became less and less plausible to maintain, however. She was causing such a commotion Kurama could not ignore her without causing some harm to his standing among his peers. After all, as she went on, it was becoming more and more blatant he was ignoring her. He could not let his peers know that was the case.

"Minamino! Wait! _Minamino!_ " She practically begged him to pay attention to her.

Kurama resisted the impulse to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. He took an unnoticed deep breath to ready himself and then paused and waited for her to catch him. If she had only kept this an internal affair instead of broadcasting it to the entire hall, he could have avoided her without fail or penalty. Truthfully, he could still ignore her and evade her easily but that might cause the student body to think he was callous and Kurama Minamino was never callous.

Though Kurama supposed it was better just to end her pursuit than let it persist and irritate him further. He had expected her to give up before his long night in the laboratory but he could not be confident she would and he allowed no one to follow him into his lab work. Better to prune the damage than to permit it to rot to ruin, he surmised.

"I've been trying to get your attention all day," Kirisawa said, quickly catching her breath after hurrying toward him.

"Is that so, Miss Kirisawa? Pardon me, I have not noticed," he lied through his smile and amicable tone. "Whatever could it be that you need of me?"

Kirisawa smiled and twisted her waist gently from side to side in a girly, coquettish manner. "Well…I know you're always busy, always got a lot on your mind, but I think you've heard about the party I'm having, right?"

"It may have been brought to my attention." With the same subtlety of a car crash.

Talk of Kirisawa's party had been going on for weeks but complications forced the date and location to be changed. And once the arrangements were resettled, exactly every female student on her party guest list had at some point approached Kurama and asked him if he would be her date to Kirisawa's party. The constant petitions from the girls had been enough irritation but the many encouragements that he go from the guys in his admiring circle (who mistakenly believed they were his friends and that he needed to relax more) firmed his resolve that he would not go.

"Yea, well, so…," she went on, continuing her silly feminine flirtation. "I was wondering, if you're not super busy or even if you are, that you could find the time to come. Even just a little while. You think you could?"

"Actually, Miss Kirisawa," Kurama put on a voice and expression that blended appreciation and courtesy with regret, "as appealing as your invitation is, I am afraid that I will have to pass."

Kurama gave a polite farewell bow and started to turn from her until she wrapped her arms around the crook of his arm and jerked him to a stop.

"Aww, come on, Minamino, _please_ come. All work and no play makes Jack jump over the candlestick."

Kurama did not correct her malapropism but did fight hardily against the urge to tell her he did not appreciate her clinging onto him, much less her further delaying him from heading to his next class. The more extroverted girls in his circle did share a habit of attaching themselves to him, commonly to his arms and once and only once to his waist.

"Again, you don't have to stay the whole time. Just enough to get you out of our stuffy library. Surely your grades won't suffer if you take a _little_ break from studying. _Please._ "

She was beginning to truly press on Kurama's nerves. He slipped some of his annoyance into his voice, remaining polite but now carrying a firm edge that this was his final decision. "I am sorry but unfortunately I do not merely have to study. I also have lesson plans and tests to construct for my tutorial class."

And then Kurama had a thought and his tone and demeanor brightened considerably. "Though I must admit, now that I reconsider matters, I suppose I could rearrange my schedule to allow for a small break. Pardon me for my earlier decline. Having so much to complete in relatively little time caused me to be hasty with my estimations. You understand I must be frugal with my time."

"Oh yes, Minamino! I know!" she said enthusiastically and then much more self-composed, "So this means you'll come?"

Kurama gave her a gracious smile. "It would be my pleasure, Miss Kirisawa."

Much to Kurama's displeasure and disapproval, she shrieked for joy and bounced in place, causing a greater scene and revealing herself out to be a foolish child. Kurama quickly excused himself and hurried up the stairs to his next class. He fleetingly wished the cherry blossom tree was still in full bloom but sadly all its pretty pink petals were gone not a week after they had arrived. Such were their nature, however.

Still, he could have used the soothing sight to erase the distraction of Miss Kirisawa's exuberance from his mind and clear the way for the much planning and persuasion he would have to employ.

-o-

Since their rising number of wins and what with being on the track team no longer considered an embarrassment, many more 'friends' of the team started coming out to watch the track practices. Instead of the sparse specks as before, the stands were partially filled with these new clusters of friends, fangirls, and Minamino.

Hiei sat catching his breath on a bench on the sidelines. He had just completed a series of trial runs, a handful being solo but most with at least one other team member. He had achieved great times but he hadn't ran to his near-best. Quite frankly, he wanted to run in the woods. The terrain was far more unpredictable, peaceful, and best of all, there were no stupid fangirls moaning condolences when their pretty boy gained yet another second-place versus Hiei.

The useless twits. They screamed their giddy heads off with every good time or potential look their way. Their pretty boy remained red-faced, whether out of exertion or embarrassment it was hard to tell. Mostly likely out of embarrassment, Hiei decided, since everyone knew that Minamino could have all the girls cheering and giggling over him with a mere close of his textbook and a look. It had to be humiliating knowing he was outclassed and his said better sat feet away, miraculously making an attempt to study through the clamor.

The pretty boy's fangirls' collective screams sounded as shrill and grating as proverbial nails running down a chalkboard as the boy at last won his first first-place. Hiei's curses and shouts that they shut the hell up went unheard in their roar. Morons. Didn't they realize the only reason he had won was because he wasn't up against him? Probably the only one up there smart enough to realize that was Minamino. Clearly that was the case, since the girls kept on cheering.

As the only sign of any intelligence in the stands, no one ever cheered for him. At all. A few brave fangirls had tried in the beginning, but Hiei had put a stop to it. Hiei did not want any fans. He had no fans.

Soon as practice was over, Hiei left, as he always did. A few of his teammates called to him in a ridiculous attempt to get him to join in with the team on some sort of outing or just to hang out, but Hiei ignored them. After so many times, he figured they'd stop but someone always tried. Idiot.

And besides, many of the friends and fangirls were coming out from the stands. It was far too many people for Hiei's liking (granted one person was too much for his liking) and he wanted no part in the small-scale sea of stupidity inundating the track field so he hurried off before any one of them got the dim idea to crowd around him and offer their banal encouragements. Like he needed them.

Hiei walked down the short road from the track field heading toward the main campus. He was alone on the road. He heard no one coming from the field and looked over his shoulder to confirm that was the case. _What a bother,_ Hiei huffed in annoyance as he leaned up against the chain-link fence and crossed his arms over his chest.

At last hearing someone coming and having shot a quick glance to see who it was, Hiei fixed his stare away to the right. He clenched his teeth and tightened his arms over his chest in preparation for the inevitable comment he would make that Hiei would revile.

"How unexpected to see you still here, Hiei," Minamino said. "If I had known you were waiting for me, I would have definitely hastened my leave."

The first words that came to Hiei's mind was a complete denial that he had been waiting but it was clear to the both of them that he had been. Hiei obviously had no other reason to remain near the track field. He wished he could deny it but he couldn't. He certainly could not admit he had grown used to walking back with Minamino.

"You think I wanted to stand here so long," Hiei said stubbornly, as they walked together. "What took you?"

"I apologize for my delay. I found myself swamped in polite conversation from various sides. It required much time and patience to navigate through, otherwise I would have been right with you."

Hiei snorted derisively. "Because one day the students here will tell stories to their grandkids of how they asked the great Minamino about the weather and what he thought tonight's dinner would be."

Minamino softly laughed. "Well, it was not quite that commonplace. I do not know how intently you listen to other students—"

"I told you I do not eavesdrop!" Hiei shouted, glaring ice toward Minamino.

"Yes, I surmised as much," Minamino said, fanning his hand in a please-settle-down gesture. "What I was actually referring towards was the talk of Kirisawa's party. Am I correct in assuming you have not heard anything about it?"

"You think I pay attention to their drivel?" Hiei said. "I don't see how you stand it. Then again you're generally in the thick of it." _All they ever talk about is you._ "So what about this party? Are you going?"

"Actually, I have accepted Miss Kirisawa's invitation to go," Minamino said.

Hiei was admittedly surprised at first but did not show it. As sociable as Minamino was, he seemed to Hiei far too fixated on his academics to ever allow himself to waste time at a party. After all, even their own interactions were centered around Minamino's studies. "Hn. No wonder they swamped you. Once the news travels, every girl in this school will be asking you to go with them."

"Oh they asked far before I was invited," Minamino said. "However, right now, I am not going with anyone specifically."

Hiei quirked an eyebrow. "Right now?"

"Correct. I have yet to ask but I hope the person I wish will come with me will agree to come." Minamino looked and smiled at Hiei.

"No."

"My, that sounds definitive," Minamino's voice remained cheery. "Is a negotiation out of the question?"

Not that he was ever considering saying yes, Hiei asked, "What are your terms?"

"Should that not be my question?" Minamino said playfully as Hiei glared sternly at him. "Very well then. All I request of you is that you accompany me to Kirisawa's party for one hour."

Hiei's answer was still no. "Under what stipulations?"

"None," Minamino said. "You merely have to come with me and stay at the party for one hour. Nothing more, nothing less. Consider it a test of endurance."

Hiei hardly believed that was all. For only knowing Minamino for about a month now, he already knew proposing anything at face value was rarely an option to Minamino. There was always something else, another layer, another meaning. "And what else? Lay out all your cards, Minamino."

"I have, Hiei. Just go to the party and stay. One hour. I request no further conditions of you. I will not force you to socialize, if that is what concerns you. You are free to act as you please at the party."

Sure it was a waste of an hour of his life, but if all he had to do was show up… Except he would be showing up with Minamino. Hiei did not like the thoughts the idea of that stirred up. Maybe, yes, it was true he was friends with Minamino but he didn't want the rest of the Academy knowing. And since he was Minamino's friend, they would believe he was their friend too and try to talk to him.

Minamino did say he didn't have to socialize.

His terms were easy enough to follow through but the conditions of the party would be senseless, boring, and irritating beyond reasonability. Minamino was right (when was he not?). It would be a test of endurance.

But Hiei had endured worse. And no part of this would ever be too much for Hiei to handle. He could say yes, but that answer depended on what he would get out of going.

"Let's say I considered agreeing," Hiei smirked slyly. "What would you give me in return?"

"Well, I would be a fool to believe you would do this for nothing, now would I?" Minamino said. "What are you requesting?"

"Pass me so I never have to attend your class again."

Minamino made a playful show of frowning. "Now, Hiei, be reasonable. You know I cannot do that." Hiei kept his smirk and shrugged his shoulders in an it-was-worth-a-shot manner. "May I propose a suggestion?"

Hiei made no objection.

"I am positive it will require little persuasion on my part to commission Eriko to bake a cake for you. As this business truly only concerns us, I will, of course, furnish all the expenses. I believe that would be an adequate exchange for an hour's worth of your time, do you agree?"

 _Make it through an hour of stupidity and win a cake all to yourself_   was what Hiei heard. Minamino's suggestion was certainly tempting. He had never expected to but Hiei found himself reconsidering.

"And if that will not convince you, will this?"

Minamino pressed his hands together as if in prayer, raised them so his fingertips touched his bottom lip, smiled, and sweetly asked please. Softness and warmth were the first things Hiei noted about Minamino's expression. His eyes and smile seemed to radiate them.

Minamino's eyes could capture sunlight. It was the only way the green of his eyes could shine so brilliantly. Even though he knew the pleading in his eyes was a put-on, Hiei could not help but note how genuine it felt.

" _Please_ ," he repeated.

Hiei ripped his sight away, turning his head to the other side in disgust. He took from his pocket a small wadded-up note and threw it at Minamino's face. The paper ball bounced harmlessly off the side of Minamino's forehead as he tried to dodge (or made a show of trying) and laughed.

Minamino still smiled at Hiei and was in an all-around pleasant mood as Hiei shoved his hands into his pockets, held his arms tight to his sides, and sulked. The warmth on his cheeks and the pressure in his chest could only be due to anger and annoyance at Minamino (because he was clearly intentionally trying to piss him off acting so ridiculous and so damn pleased).

 _Stupid Minamino,_ Hiei grumbled, wishing he stopped playing around and quit smiling so much already. _As if asking please and acting like_ that _will convince me to go!_

Hiei agreed to go. For the cake.

-o-

Outside their dormitory, Kurama Minamino waited. Though he was fairly positive Hiei was not about to back out of his word and stand him up, he could not be one hundred percent certain. After all, it would not be unlike Hiei to lie or to simply do something just to be contrary. However, he had not acted for the rest of the week like he planned on ditching their plans and Kurama, trusting Hiei would keep his promise, had not bothered him to reaffirm his agreement.

If he was going to show, he would show. If he did not, Kurama would have to make sure he made his promise up to him. And he would not get his cake. After all, Kurama Minamino did not reward bad behavior.

About another minute later, Hiei came out dressed in all black, his clothes a bit wrinkled. Most likely he had picked up whatever was on his floor. To his credit, his clothes did at least look clean. Which, as Kurama figured, was the best he could hope for. Not like he was in any position to complain. He was still wearing the Academy uniform, despite it being a Saturday and having many more nicer clothes, all clean, pressed, and folded away neatly, he could have worn for the party but had not.

Hiei was sullen. He stared at the ground, hands already in his pockets and pressed to his sides yet again, and appeared to be in an unyielding state of complaint.

"Let's get this crap over with," he growled, heading off without Kurama even though he had no idea where the party was being held.

Kurama could hardly disagree with that. Truthfully, he disliked going to parties, viewed them as frivolous squander of his time, and rarely went to any, even though he seemed to be constantly invited to them. Kurama supposed that was why Kirisawa had made such a performance out of her cheer. To her, it was like she had won the grand prize, accomplished the impossible—she had gotten Kurama Minamino to go to her party.

Kurama thought of ten things he could be working toward completion instead of going to this party.

Since students were not allowed to leave the Academy without a day pass and the mass exodus of students for one night would garner suspicion, Kirisawa's party was being held in the Science Hall under the guise of a club meeting. It had not been their first choice of locations, that had been the gym, but word had spread too far to the faculty and forced changes.

A fleeting concern washed over Kurama when Kirisawa had told him the party was in the Science Hall. He recognized the property damaging capability of high school idiocy and sought to keep his research safe. However, his work was securely hidden within a locked third floor laboratory, only accessible with a teacher's permission and key (though Kurama had unlimited access), and the party posed a threat only to the second floor classrooms and possibly its laboratories, if someone somehow managed to unlock them—but those labs held nothing that mattered to Kurama so he did not protect them or warned the Biology club, who did use those labs.

Guided by the sound of bad dance remixes of equally awful or at best merely mediocre pop music, Western and pan-Asia, Kurama with Hiei reluctant in tow walked down the hall. Kirisawa stood outside a pair of adjacent classrooms talking with a small group of friends. None of the girls' mini skirts could have ever passed Academy regulation nor would have their halter and tube tops.

 _They wet their toes into the depths of rebellion and this is what they choose to surface with. How unsurprising,_ Kurama thought, passing by a girl who chose to defy the Academy by painting herself up like a hooker.

"Minamino, you're here!" Kirisawa called, breaking from her giggling friends to run toward him. "I hoped you'd show—" Blinded by her haste, and presumably her joy, she did not notice Hiei until after she had reached them and gave Kurama an unwanted, uncalled-for hug—they were not at all that close of friends.

At seeing Hiei, Kirisawa froze, her face glazed in shock and her eyes widened into saucers. Kurama imagined a mouse, having sensed the hovering presence of a hungry snake, stilling all its movements to avoid detection.

_I realize Hiei never presents himself in a positive light, however Kirisawa and the others should not fall victim to storymongers' gossip. The manner they act around him only serves to fuel the lies, after all._

Kurama threw on a gracious and reassuring smile and tone. "Ah, Miss Kirisawa, perhaps I should have informed you beforehand and I hope this is no inconvenience to you, however Hiei has decided to accompany me to your party. Do you take issue with him coming?"

"No. No, that is fine," she said, her voice quavering, and then much more quietly added, "Just never expected…"

Kurama watched Kirisawa give Hiei an awkward, jerky smile as Kurama entered the classroom and Hiei followed. Most of the desks were removed, a few that remained served as countertops for giant snack bowls, liters of pop, and other food and drink party necessaries. On the teacher's desk stood the sound system blaring out the dance music. From the shouts in the adjacent classroom, someone with audio and visual connections had set up a projector with a television and was showing a soccer match—Kurama could not tell by ear who was facing who, having never taken any interest in sports (well, besides this year's track) and figured it did not really matter.

"Minamino. One hour," was all Hiei said before taking the least populated route over to a row of desk chairs lined against a wall.

The party went about as Kurama expected. Everyone else was having a great time, Hiei sulked and scowled from his chair, and Kurama endured through the party as a necessary evil, chatting through one tedious conversation after another while simultaneously rearranging his schedule in his head to allow for a day (or at least half a day) off. If ever given the opportunity, he hoped to join Hiei and attempt to make the surly boy show a semblance of sociability, if only with him.

Alas, the friendliest behavior Hiei had shown so far was not snapping at or outright punching the few brave souls who tried to approach him. Kurama supposed this was the best behavior he could ask for, especially after not stipulating that he behave in any sort of proper way—because Kurama Minamino was not an idiot and knew that forcing Hiei to do anything, especially to act friendly, would only garner his hatred and hostility.

Still Kurama wished Hiei wore more of a bored, indifferent expression rather than the cross, snarling glower he was shooting across the room. No wonder the storymongers were getting away with their story that wolves had raised Hiei. He did look ready to bite the next person that came in range.

Kurama marginally listened to a conversation whose subject just did not matter when the topic suddenly changed.

"So, like, what's his problem?" a girl asked, her line of sight indicating Hiei.

"Oh, nothing," Kurama said and left it at that.

"You're friends with him, right, Minamino?" a boy from his Modern Japanese class said. "Or is it more like he's friends with you?"

Kurama faked a smile, though it would be interpreted as lighthearted, as the boy pompously snickered at his own joke. Kurama disliked any possible interpretation of his words, including the implication that Hiei was only friends with him for his popularity and status or that Kurama was so self-important that he considered himself above Hiei.

"Is he always like that?" the girl asked, light concern in her voice.

"Yea, Minamino," said a second boy. "Does he ever look like he's not about to punch you in the face?"

"Hiei has an acquired personality. He does not care for many people. Or people in general. It requires patience to cope through his antagonistic temperament."

"Why would you want to be friends with someone like that?" said the first boy in distaste.

"It's no surprise, guys. Minamino is so kind and easy to talk to. He can make anyone his friend," said the girl as she attached herself to Kurama's arm, making him wonder if every girl at the Academy were all secretly exceptionally well crossbred mobile venus flytraps and his arms were just large pieces of meat to clamp down on.

Before Kurama could respond, he heard a boy shout, "Hey, what the fuck is your problem?"

Kurama looked and saw Hiei's seat was empty. Through the congested room, Kurama could not see Hiei anywhere but following the trail of shouts and parting students opening up a path to the nearest door, Kurama surmised enough to deduce his whereabouts.

Giving a swift pardon to his company, Kurama hastened through the party crowd.

-o-

Run. Get out of there. Find open space, were the orders Hiei's brain gave to his body. Turn here. Faster. Now go up. Hiei wasn't even aware of where he was going. He simply trusted his feet to take him where he needed to be.

It had been too much. Too much noise, too many students steadily crowding around him, closing him in a smaller and smaller box. The idiot girl had invited too many people or too many crashed and no one gave a damn. He had almost been totally enclosed in a wall of physical contact, covered and bare skin. He began to suffocate as the wall grew closer and closer. Until Hiei had to break free.

Racing up a flight of stairs, Hiei barged through a door and stopped at the rush of cool air on his flushed, sweaty skin. He stood and breathed, easing the pounding of his heart. Clarity slowly began to return to his senses. Hiei found himself on the Science Hall's rooftop. It was night. There was a comfortably cool breeze blowing. A light mounted above the doorway partially illuminated a small space on the roof. From memory, Hiei knew that the rooftop was enclosed in tall fencing. This was a familiar place.

Hiei stepped out of the door's threshold and embraced the openness. With each breath and reassurance, he no longer felt the need to scan the area for danger, to ready himself to bolt at a moment's notice. He was okay. He was alone on the rooftop. And nowhere else. There was no need to panic.

He sat down and leaned his back against the fencing. His body was mostly in shadow but the light above the doorway dimly outlined his feet and legs. He sat, relaxing the last jolts of fear out of his nerves. He thought of nothing. From the woods, he heard the distant hoot of an owl.

This had been Minamino's fault. It was his stupid insistence that Hiei accompany him to the party. It was his stupid agreement. Hiei didn't want to go and he never would have wanted to go. Minamino had tricked him into going.

 _You really think he knew you would react that way?_ said another thought. _Minamino knows nothing about…back then. If he had, he wouldn't have wanted you to go with him. He is your friend._

Much as he hated that small thought in the back of his mind that was always so rational and oddly upheld Minamino's defense quite often, Hiei had to admit the thought had a point. It didn't take a genius like Minamino to figure out he hated people but Minamino would have to be psychic to know Hiei couldn't stand to be in a crowd and loathed being touched, even just the prospect. There was no way he could have known.

Well, even though he didn't know and hadn't meant any harm, this was still Minamino's fault. Hiei may have failed to stay an hour but damn it, he was going to get his cake out of Minamino.

The door to the rooftop opened. Hiei was ready to tell the stupid bastard to fuck off until he saw it was Minamino and still he contemplated ordering him anyway. But Minamino was Minamino, impervious to foul language, hostility, and desperate desire to be alone, and saying that would do nothing.

"Preferable, I assume?" Minamino said, finding Hiei easily out of the shadows.

Whether Hiei's slow nod was seen through the dark, he neither knew nor cared. He wasn't quite ready to be around anyone else quite yet. Not Minamino. He needed to be alone. He needed time to recover, to rediscover his surroundings, and to remember who he and people around him were again. He needed to run forward, not back.

Not unexpectedly, Minamino went on talking. "Parties are not particularly my area of inclination either," he said, wedging the stopper underneath the door. "I never stay more than an hour."

"Then why did you go? Surely you could've talked yourself out of it."

"I have, many times before. However after giving so many rejections, I find it necessary to indulge their invitations once in a while to maintain favorable social relations. A goodwill mission of sorts, if you will."

"Was I a part of your goodwill?" Hard anger lined Hiei's voice. If Minamino had just used him to gain some sort of favor among his peers…

"It is easier to bear a weight on two shoulders than one."

Hiei still didn't like his answer but at least he hadn't dragged Hiei into his scheme just to impress his admirers.

"If you didn't want to go, you should've said no. Or are you capable of that?" Hiei sneered.

"I believe I have already mentioned how I wish to keep favorable relations," Minamino said.

Hiei scoffed, "Because that is so important."

Minamino smiled. "Relatively minor, yes, but necessary."

"You also could have declined my invitation," Minamino said as he sat down beside Hiei.

"How astute of you to notice."

Feeling the need to distance himself and to give Minamino warning that he was not that comfortable with his closeness, Hiei scooted away, adding another inch to the fifteen-inch gap between them.

"But you did not," Minamino said.

"Unlike you, I don't make a habit of it."

"That is true," Minamino nodded. "I am grateful to be graced by such an infrequency. You have earned your cake tonight."

"Damn straight," Hiei said. "It won't work a second time."

"No requirement for it and I already surmised it would not," Minamino said. "Frankly, I am amazed it worked as well as it did this time."

"Everything was in my favor."

"Of course, I intentionally tipped the scales to your benefit."

"I knew that." Hiei snorted arrogantly. "How else would I have came?"

"Out of friendship," Minamino said.

"If I did it for that, you wouldn't have needed to bargain with cake."

"Not unless it serves as a thank-you for you to attend a party in which you knew you would be uncomfortable at, as you revile the existence of all other humans and refuse to play our social games, however you endured it anyway just to offer your support, to prove you are intent on making our friendship work."

Through the dim light, Hiei could see the fine green shine of Minamino's eyes and felt his smile. Though his smile was warm and pleasant as any other, it was not without a hint of self-satisfaction, an all-too-knowing that he was right and there was nothing Hiei could do or say that would change that. Minamino was annoying enough when he was right. He was downright insufferable when he _knew_ he was right.

Hiei turned his head to the other side. "…You're lucky it's damn good cake."

Minamino did not reply. No, he seemed too absorbed and amused by his own thoughts. Not like Hiei minded the silence. He knew Minamino well enough to know it would be brief. In a minute, Minamino would figure out something else to prattle on about.

The breeze blew by and Hiei now hated it, for two reasons. First, the cool air threw chills across his sweaty skin and second, the stupid wind carried a faint smell Hiei could not discern or ignore. Hiei was not certain what the scent was. There were a lot of scents in the breeze, one leading into another and coming together to form a new final fragrance. It started off sweet, sugary sweet. It smelled the way cream cheese frosting tasted. It was thick, silky, and satisfying, with the underlying scent of pineapple adding its own sweet tartness.

Sweet led into spice. Warm and savory aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice stirred the air. While the sugary frosting dealt its own subtle punch, the spices struck strong and sharp. They were hot and invigorating. With the familiar scent of vanilla to smooth everything out, he found the contrasting but complementing blend of scents pleasing and comforting, and even though he never had a childhood or a home, he knew this would be a scent that would have reminded him of those times, of home.

And though Hiei started to enjoy the aroma in the air, one thing still bothered him—he could not determine where it was coming from. There was no way the air lifted it off someone from the party. No, the scent was too strong, too clear. The source had to be close by.

 _Minamino,_ Hiei begrudgingly realized. It had to be coming from Minamino. Hiei cursed to himself. He wanted to hate the scent now, but could not force himself to—he liked it too much. So instead, he blamed Minamino. He blamed Minamino for wearing this scent, for wearing other scents Hiei enjoyed, for being such a perfectionist, for having meticulous cleaning habits, and for seemingly being obsessed with smelling good.

And _damn_ did he smell good.

Hiei drew his legs close to his body, wrapped his arms around them, and pulled them in. He curled his body into a tight, tense ball and brooded and cursed.

"This cake you owe me…" Hiei at last said. "Can I get any kind of cake I want?"

-o-

Hiei's rush from the party caused absolutely no change in the Academy's opinion of him. They still thought of him as a foul-tempered antisocial freak whose only redeeming quality and value to the Academy was his exceptional running skills. The only sort of change his so-called freak-out created was a new steady stream of gossip, each story wilder than the last.

It was lunchtime and Hiei sat at a longtable, Yusuke sat across from him. Briefly eyeing Hiei's lack of a lunch, Yusuke appeared to think about commenting on it but wound up shrugging it off in preference to cramming his own face.

Minamino arrived a minute later, effortlessly managing to hold his lunch tray, his school briefcase, and a thin white box in balance. He sat down beside Hiei and laid the box in front of him. Hiei wasted no time in flipping open the lid. It was exactly the cake he had asked for—a carrot cake.

"Why the hell is Minamino bringing you cake?" Yusuke demanded to know, clearly confused. He had the kind of shocked look on his face that wouldn't be out of place if Keiko had given him permission to skip all his classes and didn't mind anymore if he fondled her or looked underneath her skirt.

"None of your business," Hiei snapped back and dug into his carrot cake.

Minamino offered Yusuke an explanation, even if it was a complete cover of the truth. "As embarrassing it is for me to admit, I lost a bet."

Yusuke narrowed his eyes. "Yea, right, Minamino. Like you lost a bet," he snorted in disbelief. "Gonna stick with that one, aren't ya?"

Minamino gave no other justification and simply smiled back.

"I earned it," Hiei said in a voice that said that was all he was going to say and no, Yusuke wasn't getting any.

"Really?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow incredulously. "You're not gonna eat all that yourself."

"He can and he will," Kuwabara said as he sat down with his tray beside Yusuke. "I watched him eat the rest of that chocolate cake in one sitting. He's like a locust for sweets. Personally, I don't see where he puts it all."

"Yea, come to think of it…" Yusuke said, holding his chin and looking at the ceiling in consideration. "You do eat a lot of sweets."

"And your point?" Hiei said before piling in a forkful of just cream cheese frosting.

"Just answer me. And make it honest," Yusuke said, leaning toward Hiei. "Are you the one that's been eating everyone's desserts in the dorm fridge?"

"Finally learned to put two and two together," Hiei said, smirking. "You should be a detective."

"I knew it!" Yusuke shouted, grinning and snapping his fingers in recognition. "Keiko blamed me for eating her adzuki bean buns but it was you."

"You ate my friend Okubo's pineapple cheesecake!" Kuwabara squawked. "His mom hardly ever makes it!"

"Yea, I could tell that," Hiei said derisively. "The graham cracker crust tasted too much like butter."

His face growing hot and pinched, Kuwabara looked ready to grab Hiei from across the table. "Why you—"

Some mediation and rational words from Minamino and Kuwabara at last calmed down. He still looked sour and refused to look at Hiei but did return to his usual obnoxiously exuberant self and proudly grinned and shouted as Yusuke spat out the extra sandwich filled with wasabi paste he had stolen from him.

"Hiei, you really should not be eating other people's food," Minamino said in a mildly reprimanding tone.

"Why not? It was in the fridge."

"Yes, however it is not for you. It belonged to someone else. The little names and room numbers somewhere on the containers should have alerted you to that…"

"Hn, not my problem. They left it in the fridge. They run the risk."

"So you're not gonna stop and you're not apologetic at all." Yusuke leaned back and smiled wryly. "Doesn't surprise me."

"Y'know, for a guy that inhales sugar, it doesn't sweeten you up at all," Kuwabara said.

"The crust sucked, but the rest was good."

Kuwabara's hands curled into fists as a flicker of anger rushed through him but another consideration of Hiei's words caused a pause and then a wonder if Hiei had just given a compliment. Hiei supposed he might have accidentally said something that could be misconstrued as nice, that once in a while he could make such a mistake and say something that could be inadvertently interpreted in a positive light. It was a very, very rare mistake, one that Hiei was not convinced had actually happened. In fact, he decided it did not.

Hiei did not dwell on it for long. He had cake to eat.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued thanks goes out to a guest reviewer on Fanfiction for composing a musical theme for "Angels". For those who wish to hear and/or download it, go to www.archive.org/details/InTheEyesOfAngelsmainTheme. For whatever reason if the link fails, you can search the Archive site for In the Eyes of Angels (main theme) and it should be easy to find.
> 
> Thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: If I owned YYH, this story wouldn't be fanfiction. It would be an OVA.

-o-

Chapter Thirteen: Out and About and Walking Around (But It's Not A Date)

-o-

Kurama Minamino was reading a book on a shuttle bus heading into town. Hiei sat next to him either sleeping or pretending to be—Kurama speculated he was pretending since his expression was too harsh and tense to convince anyone, especially Kurama, that he was truly asleep.

Though he had not declined his offer of a day pass and thus time away from the Academy, Hiei did seem to be in an exceptionally non-conversational mood this morning. Kurama recognized when Hiei was being sullen for the sake of being sullen and knew when he could push him into something at last evolving into a conversation. This was not one of those times. No, this was the flipside of the coin, when it was best to wait and let Hiei open the discourse.

So Kurama read and Hiei sulked.

There were ten students in all on the bus. One sat in the front seat, the rest sat in the back, and Kurama and Hiei sat in the middle, along with Yusuke and Kuwabara sitting across from them, each stretched out in their own separate seats. They were discussing plans on seeing the latest movie in an action series known for being a manly man's film, therefore consisting of violence, explosions, and flaunting around beautiful alien women that inexplicably possessed Earth man-friendly genitalia, despite being from another galaxy, dimension, or evolutionary track. Scientific accuracy or obeying basic laws of physics was not exactly the series' forte.

Neither was producing a storyline, developing characters, or providing any thought-provoking analysis of human nature and philosophy beyond showing men as incapable of being anything but baseless animals. Really, it was quite insulting to its targeted audience. In the end, however, the movies were purely for entertainment, well, an approximation of entertainment. There always was another installment every year, accompanied by a barrage of promotional advertisement, so apparently there was a profit being made and a demand to be satisfied.

"Hey, Minamino, wanna see—" the long droning honk of the bus's horn obscured the title of the movie, "—with us?"

"I appreciate the offer, Kuwabara, however I must respectfully decline," Kurama said, as he turned a page and did not mention the fact that he placed seeing that movie right beside spending the day shopping in the company of his female admirers on his list of things he would never subject himself to.

"Didn't think it was your kind of movie anyway, Minamino," Yusuke grinned wryly. "But Keiko has _Sixteen Candles_ , if you want to borrow it."

A few weeks ago, Kurama would have brushed Yusuke's comment off as nothing more than a pathetic antagonistic taunt. While, yes, it was meant to provoke him, it was no longer said with hostility. It was in Yusuke's nature to poke friendly jabs at the few who comprised his social circle. As his closest friend, Kuwabara was top of the pecking order, next was Hiei, and last was Kurama, mostly because Yusuke could not come up with many creative jabs for Kurama (though not for lack of trying) and also because Kurama was not as entertaining since he did not get angry like Kuwabara or Hiei and he _always_ had some form of a comeback.

"I am sorry to say that is not my preference in movies either," Kurama said, "However, it is interesting to note that you are aware she possesses it."

Kurama did not look away from his book but he did overhear Kuwabara's snickering and Yusuke mutter "Smart ass" peevishly under his breath.

Of course, there were other things Kurama could have been doing but he had worked things out with his schedule to permit this day off of sorts. Kirisawa, in her misuse of words, did have a point and his mother, supportive as she was of his academics, had given him a very motherly reminder that he should rest once in a while—well, at all, to be more accurate. It had caused him some tight pinches in his schedule all week, a few later-than-usual nights, and several instances where he could not talk or even see Hiei but all of his restraint and diligence during the week would be rewarded today.

In fact, it appeared that Hiei had at last decided to wake up and socialize.

"Good morning," Kurama said, going along with Hiei's act.

Hiei shot a glare out the window and the continuing view of trees after more trees. "We're still not there?"

"I am afraid not. There is quite some distance between the Academy and the nearest city. Which is why the Academy, on the whole, is self-sufficient and essentially is a small town in of itself."

"That kicks you out after seven years," Yusuke said, smirking. "Thank god about that. I'd never want to live there permanently. Can't think of anyone that would." And then his stare focused on Kurama, "Scratch that."

"Hn," Hiei grunted, turning onto his side to face the window. "Wake me up when we get there."

"Oh, right," Yusuke said. "Not like we didn't want to talk to you."

Hiei did not reply. He may have been actually trying to find a little sleep but it seemed to Kurama like more of his unresponsive act. Even for Hiei's typical rejection to showing any form of open and sociable conduct, he was behaving quite reclusive this morning.

"Hey, what's with him? He get up on the wrong side of the bed?" Yusuke asked Kuwabara.

"Nope, just the same bad side he always does," Kuwabara replied. "Don't know what's up with him. He was up before me. He's always up before me."

"Ever think about getting up earlier?" Yusuke said sarcastically.

"You know how early I get up, Urameshi, but he's still already awake. I've woken to find him sitting up just staring out into the dark. Freaking creepy," and then Kuwabara looked at Hiei and raised his voice, "And I'm not afraid of tellin' that to your face, runt. It's creepy. Wish you'd stop doin' it."

"I've wished you'd stop existing," Hiei said in a dull voice and not at all a sleepy one because that was all a ruse. "But we can't all get what we want."

"Why, you—" Kuwabara's face twisted in indignation. "Don't you ever have anything nice to say?"

"Be thankful that when you snore I stop myself from smothering you."

Shock flashed through his anger, along with the horror of realizing Hiei had contemplated murdering him in his sleep because while others would only joke, with Hiei, there was always a distinct possibility he might one day actually be true to his word.

Smirking, Yusuke jabbed Kuwabara's arm with his elbow. "He's got a point, y'know. We only roomed a week but I thought about smothering you myself. Bet a thousand yen your sister has too."

"Well, it's not like I can control what I do in my sleep," Kuwabara said, affronted, raising his head high and crossing his arms over his chest as he threw a glare at Hiei's turned back. "Sorry but I guess you're just gonna have to deal with it, toadstool."

"By the same logic," Kurama interceded, "should you not also have to cope with Hiei's disconcerting staring? It is what is fair. After all, cohabitation does require the individual parties to learn to adjust and readjust to the other."

Kuwabara was quiet, his jaw firm and tense, as he needled an I-hate-when-you're-right stare into Kurama. The look did not bother Kurama at all. It was a rather refreshing change from the over-admiring, amazed looks the rest of the Academy offered to him for otherwise similar basic logic-highlighting responses.

"Well, I'd take Creepy Eyes in the morning over hearing you roar like a generator all night," Yusuke said.

"Fine, Urameshi, why don't you take him?" Kuwabara shouted. "It's your fault I got stuck with him anyway. I'll take your roommate. He's bound to be easier to live with."

"Nah, Reiji and I have a good system. He works on his manga, keeps to himself, leaves the room when I go to bed so his work won't disturb me, and he's pretty funny. You should hear his rendition of the myth of Minotaur. It's nastier than Iwamoto's asshole but the way he says everything completely straight-faced just makes it more hilarious."

Kuwabara turned his head away and grumbled, "Geez, Urameshi, why don't you brag a little more?"

"Hey, I can't help the universe gave you the short stick. Literally."

Yusuke grinned. Kuwabara glared and grumbled peevishly. Kurama glanced away from his book and over at Hiei. He had not moved from his window facing, back to everyone else position but he was not asleep, much as he liked the others to believe. No, from how tense his body was, Kurama was without a doubt certain he was awake. And thinking awful, pain-inflicting thoughts towards Yusuke and Kuwabara.

-o-

They finally arrived in town and at first sight, Hiei was not all that impressed. It was a small city with many of the expected sights and buildings and there were many, many people walking about—even if it was a Saturday, Hiei questioned why some of these people weren't at work. Only good part was that it wasn't the Academy and that had been a good enough reason for Hiei to accept Minamino's offer of a day pass.

Hands in his blue jeans, Hiei stood off to the side as Minamino and the knuckleheads discussed their plans for the day. Unsurprisingly, Minamino had his schedule, Yusuke and Kuwabara had theirs, and what they each considered entertainment did not intermingle all the much. Logic and ease determined it was better if they separated and reconvened at the Crown.

Hiei went with Minamino, for no other reason than he was less irritating. He was already having a bad enough morning and the sound of Yusuke and the oaf's voices (and their lame cracks at Hiei's height, temperament, whatever) would not help him. At least, Minamino seemed to know there was a limit he could press while Yusuke and Kuwabara barged on pissing Hiei off more. Hiei didn't need to feel angrier. He felt enough of that already.

Because, for the first time in many years, last night, he had dreamed about _her_.

And because he had dreamed of her, Hiei had woken up far too early and spent the hours sitting up staring into dark yet again. He hadn't wanted to dream of her. If he had his way—not asking the universe for any help because he knew he would not receive any—he never wanted their paths to cross ever again. Fleetingly, because he knew nothing could change the past, he wished they had never came to meet one another. He wanted to forget her _,_ just as she had no doubt done, after all these years. But, unlike her, he did not have the power to forget.

Hiei walked beside Minamino down a street, avoiding contact with passersby in the most inconspicuous manner possible. Minamino had been peculiarly quiet so far. Hiei had expected him to strike up a conversation by now and he wasn't sure if he wanted the silence to stay or if he welcomed the distraction. After all, he had decided to deal with the resurfaced memory through focused rage. But he had also decided to come with Minamino and the others into town and that was certainly not conducive to him remaining in a sulk, so much so he wondered why he had agreed to go.

Hiei blamed Minamino. He wasn't positive on the exact details of what he specifically did that made him agree and everything he remembered about their conversation did not alert him of anything remarkable Minamino had said or done but he knew Minamino had to be the root cause. He usually was.

And aside from his lack of prattle, Hiei noted only one other peculiar aspect of Minamino today—for once, he was not wearing his Academy uniform. While it wasn't at all strange in general, for Minamino, who wore his uniform constantly on campus even when it wasn't required, it was a surprise this morning to see that he did indeed possess clothes of his own.

Minamino wore a casual waistcoat over a lightweight, long-sleeved white and dark blue-striped shirt and white slacks. And they were nice clothes, far nicer and better fitting than Hiei's jeans and bright yellow T-shirt—nothing else was clean and Hiei didn't have any money for his laundry, Kuwabara was getting a little sharper about hiding his wallet, and he wasn't about to ask Minamino for some change, even if it meant he had to go on wearing dirty clothes.

Still Hiei found the sight of Minamino in something other than his uniform strange and shot glances over at him, only to reconcile the image of Minamino he was used to with this slightly different view, that is. And it wasn't his fault Minamino wore so much white it happened to draw Hiei's attention. It wasn't like Hiei wanted to look but when he had an annoying bright light moving in the corner of his eye, of course he had to look. Besides, other people were looking at him too. With that abundant red hair and his simple but striking outfit, it was practically impossible to not notice him.

 _Of course, Minamino could never make a subtle entrance_ , Hiei thought, averting his stare and trying to ignore everything to his left no matter how it danced and shined. _He doesn't know how to_ not _find new ways of irritating the hell out of me either._

"Is there any specific place you wish to see or something you wish to do?" Minamino asked.

"Don't know, never been here, and don't care," Hiei said tersely. "Hurry up and get whatever you need done."

"It is not much. Just a few minor errands," Minamino said, stopping unsurprisingly in front of a bookstore. "Feel free to wander about while I search. I know I might be a few minutes, on account I can tell they have completely reorganized their sections yet again. It is as if they are trying to go through all the mathematical combinations possible..."

Hiei could agree with Minamino's mild irritation toward the bookstore's rearrangement. Meandering from the sports section straight into the juxtaposed metaphysical section, Hiei had to wonder if alcohol was involved when the managers planned the new floor layout. Either that or they wanted to create the most awkward meetings between customers by pairing wildly different sections beside one another. Well, those were Hiei's best theories but his bet was on the alcohol being the truth.

He had a good dark laugh to himself, though, at seeing the Christian section adjacent to the erotica and the fact there was more of one than the other and there certainly wasn't a slew of Bibles. Hiei had a particular disgust for both kinds of books but he could appreciate the irony and smirk at the mutual discomfort forced upon customers of either section. If he didn't already know Yusuke had never willingly opened a book, much less entered a bookstore ever in his life, Hiei almost believed Yusuke had done this. Sure would have been stupid and insensitive enough.

He walked past Minamino a few times. He was still hunting for books and, despite being asked by an employee if she could help him in his search, he graciously declined her offer—apparently his pride as an all-knowing genius would not allow him and deemed it degrading if he asked for assistance in a _bookstore._

Every book in the store was bright, shiny, and smooth. The Academy's library had more books of varying age, mostly older than new. Being a library and not a store, the condition of the Academy's books also varied upon its age but mostly on the care of the students and not all students were particularly gentle.

Hiei preferred the perfect condition—nothing faded, nothing worn—of the bookstore books but disliked the colorful covers with artsy pictures that may or may not have actually had anything to do with the story. One thing the Academy books had going for them was their drab hardcovers in muted colors, their titles delineated only on the spine. Still the store had the Academy's library beat in one aspect—only the store's books still had that new book smell.

In the very back of the store was a bookcase filled with only leather-bound books. Perusing through them, Hiei discovered they were all special editions of various classics in literature. Continuing to scan through the editions, Hiei ran his hand down the spine of one—something about the feel of a leather book was simply superior to that of any paperback—until his eyes fell upon one book and he paused in near-shock of its existence.

There was a leather-bound edition of _Frankenstein_.

To say that Hiei snatched the book would be too slow of a word to describe accurately as to how quickly that book disappeared off its place on the shelf and then suddenly reappeared in Hiei's arms. Hiei held onto the book as if it was his only protection from a firing squad. There was no denying that he had decided that this was his book and no one was going to take it from him.

And then Hiei remembered the fundamental difference between a bookstore and a library—one cannot take a book from a store as one would from a library, it had to be purchased. With money. Something Hiei did not have.

Hiei thought about how he could steal it but realized that might be unlikely. Most books had those annoying security tags inside them. Sure, his speed was his best advantage and he could probably outrun any of the employees but he also figured shoplifting the book would wind up biting him in the ass in the long run. After all, he was with Minamino and, though they were friends, there were still some things, well a lot of things, Hiei didn't know about him. Hiei couldn't be positive Minamino wouldn't rat Hiei out to the store and/or Father Takenaka.

And he didn't exactly have a bag or anything to hide the book in if he needed to. All he could do was put the book underneath his shirt and as if that would be an inconspicuous gesture. As if no one would pay attention to the very-much-a book-shaped object underneath his bright yellow shirt. No, no one would notice that at all…

Hiei stewed in irritation. He really wanted the book but he couldn't buy it. And he would rather nail a railroad spike in his palm before he asked Minamino to buy it for him. Even though he would probably do it. Hiei still wasn't going to ask him. He wasn't about to owe (or let him think he owed) him.

Still it was a _very nice_ book. It was bound in black leather and its thick pages were trimmed in gold as was the title lettering on the spine and the simple but striking diamond pattern across the front and back covers. Oddly enough, it resembled a Bible but he could overlook that detail for the love of the story. To Hiei, _Frankenstein_ was many things but mostly it was an old friend. Hiei had read it so many times he could probably recite it. It had been the first book he had ever read cover to cover and from then he retained a kind of kinship toward the book.

Curiosity brought Hiei to look at the price sticker—Hiei hated stickers on a book for it usually left a sticky residue, even when the sticker miraculously peeled off completely—but noting the price did not help matters. In fact, it made things worse. Well, it was a special edition and so reasonably would be much more than the paperback since they did not make as many copies and one had to pay for the gold and the printers and binders for their work. Still it was more depressing to discover exactly how much of an extravagance the book really was.

It was a beautiful book though. Practically was the most perfect edition to his preferences Hiei had ever seen.

But _damn it_ , he was not about to ask Minamino!

Though he probably would buy it if he asked. Maybe, just maybe. Except the book was quite expensive…

He was not a charity case! He didn't need to be indebted to anyone, especially Minamino!

Hiei hated being poor.

But he still really wanted the book.

Reluctantly, Hiei put the book back. He did not entertain dreams of one day having enough money to buy it because most likely by the time he actually did, the book would have been purchased already or shipped 'unsold' back to the publisher and Hiei was not an optimist nor did he dream of anything good or hopeful. After all, wishful thinking was for idiots like Kuwabara.

He gave its spine a solemn farewell touch and then headed to wait for Minamino outside. He didn't even want to look at another book.

Minamino finally came out some ten to fifteen minutes later. Despite knowing full well the bookstore's layout and distribution of books made no sense, Hiei still grumbled about how long it took him. And well, he told himself he was still angry over his dream (and he still was) but truthfully he was angry at the store and not being able to have his book and seeing a bag from the store at Minamino's side did not help matters. Despite the ever presence of white trying to attract his attention, the bag was just another reason for Hiei to keep his eyes elsewhere.

Hiei accompanied Minamino along his errands, talking little and wondering why he agreed to go with him in the first place. There were people everywhere shopping, talking, and walking. It was like being in an endless crowded hallway back at the Academy. Hiei decided he did not like cities, even the smaller ones, because there were people in the cities.

Only patch of green was in the small city park. There were still people but there were far less here than in the streets and there was much more space for the other people to wander about, walk their dogs, and stay relatively far away from Hiei.

Hiei sat on a park bench with his legs drawn close to his body and ignored his surroundings. He had seen far too many students from the Academy walking about, the girls giggling and grabbing hold of their boyfriend's arms—in the same manner they would grab Minamino's arm—and commenting on all the pretty flowers. There were too many couples picnicking, heading toward the flower path, and talking about rowboating out on the lake. They were all so happy and touchy-feely it almost turned Hiei's stomach. Why anyone would want to waste a day in the company of one person was beyond Hiei…

Minamino was coming back from wherever he had excused himself to depart to. Even though Hiei had only caught a glance from the corner of his eye, it wasn't as if he could miss Minamino. The abundant sunlight was reflecting too well off his clothes again and in the open space, it wasn't like anyone could not notice him. He practically had a divine aura radiating around him. No wonder the girls made their boyfriends stop as the girls shamelessly watched him walk by. And for that matter so were their boyfriends.

Hiei folded his arms around his drawn-up legs and laid his chin on his knees. For the moment it was a comfortable position, though wouldn't be for long. Hiei could endure through it for a while. It wasn't the worst dull pain he had ever withstood.

"Here," Minamino said, offering him a tall drink. "It's a milkshake."

A sour expression on his face, Hiei did not take it, did not move as if he was going to take it, and scowled at the cup.

"It's chocolate," Minamino added.

Hiei didn't care if it was the most wonderful flavor in the entire world—or, being chocolate, was it already?—he refused to take it. Even for something as small as a milkshake, Hiei refused to owe Minamino. Hiei didn't create debts he couldn't pay back and he never created debts because he never wanted to have to repay anyone. If he wanted anything, he could get it himself. If he had the money, that is.

Minamino smiled and shook the cup encouragingly toward him.

…Though Hiei had to admit, a milkshake sounded pretty good about now, especially since he had skipped breakfast. Actually, a milkshake would have sounded good even if he had breakfast. Hiei's stomach considered it a top priority to make sure there was always room for a milkshake. Or doughnuts. Or parfaits stolen from the dorm fridge. Or cookies from the cafeteria. Or chocolate-covered anything. If it was sweet, there was room.

And Hiei realized how suddenly hungry he was.

He wanted the milkshake but he did not want to owe Minamino for it. He was aware of the particular problem he was in saying yes and no and hated it. Because he wanted the milkshake but his pride would not let him.

Hiei blamed Minamino. After all, it was all his fault he was in this predicament for buying it. Not like Hiei had asked—

No, Hiei had not asked. This had been Minamino's idea. He had bought the milkshake of his own volition. Hiei had never asked him. It wasn't as if he had _wanted_   Minamino to buy him a milkshake. It just happened to be that Minamino had. He was giving Hiei a milkshake. Which meant that Hiei would not owe Minamino anything because it was a gift and Hiei had not request Minamino to do anything for him.

Hiei turned his stare upward. Minamino gave a little go-ahead nod that Hiei tried his best to ignore having seen and brusquely swiped the cup out of Minamino's hand. Hiei held it between his knees and started drinking, the harsh scowl on his face remaining unchanged. Minamino sat down one leg crossed over the other beside Hiei on the bench. He was smiling (possibly smirking) as he stared out into the green and lively scenery before he at last gave his own smaller shake a sip.

Hiei sat in silence, determined to not tell him thank you because he had not asked and did not owe him. That and the near-constant flow of chocolate stalled any potential conversation for at least as long as the shake would last.

"Hey, Minamino!" called a girl in a shrill voice.

Hiei did not look but Minamino peered over his shoulder and gave a simple polite greeting to her, another classmate of his, Hiei presumed.

She ran up, smiling and giggling—damn this girl was cheerful—and practically bounced in place in joy as she stood beside him. No surprise, she was also an admirer. Then again, being female and a student at the Academy almost one hundred percent also meant a girl was also an admirer of Minamino's. One was typically always also the other.

At least Minamino seemed to recognize this girl so she was not apparently a random emboldened admirer that happened to crawl out from the woodworks. They exchanged a round of polite conversation and pleasantries. Perhaps all the white of Minamino's outfit was blinding her but she didn't seem to notice Hiei was sitting right beside him, which was fine by him. He wanted no part in the conversation. She could say her hellos to Minamino and get the hell out of there and Hiei didn't have to stop sipping his milkshake.

"So, hey, you look nice," the girl said, putting a hand on Minamino's shoulder and making a quick sweep down his upper arm.

The little touch angered Hiei, mostly due to his own aversion. Just the sight of such close contact sent waves of revulsion through his body. He couldn't understand why Minamino would let girls touch him, why he never stopped them. He hadn't given her permission. Why did she touch him and why had he allowed it? Anger compounded on anger as he failed to comprehend why.

"What are you up to?" the girl asked in a playfully teasing tone. "On a date?"

Never had Hiei came so close to death-by-milkshake-suffocation.

His gasp for air had apparently been loud enough to finally notify the girl that he existed on the bench as well. She was shocked to see him, giggled for some damn reason (embarrassment, Hiei guessed), and told Minamino he would be a great teacher someday because he was so great about spending one-on-one time with his students. Minamino gave her a vague smile but did not otherwise respond.

Hiei wished she would leave already but it became clear that this was not a random hello between classmates, especially after she at last got around to asking Minamino what she wanted.

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to see a movie with me?" She held up two tickets, movie title and time facing her and nothing informative facing them, well, Minamino. "You see, I bought these in advance but my date hasn't shown up. I've waited and waited but I think the jerk stood me up. Isn't that awful?"

Hiei didn't like the stress she put on _'Isn't that awful?'_. Hiei was fairly certain, and if he was right about Minamino suspecting the same, that they were dealing with a Drama club reject. Minamino did have a stupid habit of not saying no but the stupid girl should have known he was smart enough to figure out when he was being so very blatantly manipulated. After all, Hiei had noticed.

And so had Minamino, though he did not let that be known. Hiei could tell that he had though.

"I am sorry to hear that," Minamino said, pretending to sympathize with her as the girl fell for his put-on. It was a shame for her she had. She could have learned a lot from him. "However I unfortunately have prior engagements. I apologize but I cannot go with you. Perhaps you can call a friend who can go with you so the ticket will not go to waste."

And again she touched his arm. It wasn't just a quick touch either. The girl laid her hands on his arm and slid them forward as if she was trying to wrap her arms around his. What the hell was with this girl? Did other girls act like this around Minamino or was she the exception?

"Oh, I wish I could," she said, "but the movie starts too soon. I know that if _we_ hurried we could make it but I don't have time to wait for a friend. Are you sure you can't come? _Please_ …"

"My sweet Suzu, how could you?!" a boy cried out.

The girl gasped and froze in place. Standing a few feet behind her was a young man, her boyfriend. His body was badly battered and bruised—it wasn't clear but going by his smashed face, the rest of him couldn't be in better condition—his clothes were ripped, and he was for some reason dripping wet. Pain was etched across every inch of his face and, wincing as he adjusted his grip, blood squirted from his right shoulder. Hiei also noticed the thumb on his left hand was bent in a way thumbs do not bend.

"You asked me to see our tickets," the boy said, voice wavering in sobs, "and then shoved me in the lake, l was almost killed by a swan, and here I find out it was all so you could go out with Minamino!"

"Uh… Uh…" The girl panicked and briefly looked to Minamino for help.

Minamino said nothing and watched the scene play out with complete indifference. Maybe Minamino could have assuaged the situation and maybe his powers of persuasion were too little too late even for this mess, either way he wasn't about to involve himself. If the idiot girl thought she would have Minamino to bail her out, she was horribly mistaken.

At last the wide-eyed, flustered girl gestured at Minamino in a way that would not have been out of place on a game show model showcasing the grand prize and said, "…Well, do you blame me?!"

Whether out of his immense pain or learning the girl he loved wanted to be with and would drop him like a sack of wet, rotting potatoes out a plane without a chute to crash on the road and get run over by a caravan of semis in a heartbeat for Minamino, the boy had tears in his eyes. And if Hiei actually gave damn, he might have felt an infinitesimally bit sorry for the guy. But he didn't. If anything Hiei thought it was as much his fault as the girl's for not realizing what Hiei had years ago—people were selfish and didn't give a damn about you if it didn't suit their needs. It was the guy's own fault for caring for the bitch.

"I'm going to the hospital now," the guy whimpered and managed to turn around, the limp in his right leg noticeable along with the trail of blood running down it. "Feel free to not come by." And then he started to shamble off. Pity he wasn't in the woods when Suzuki tried to kill him. He would have made an adequate zombie.

"Ah, come on…" the girl whined as she jogged off after him. "It was the waistcoat! I swear it was the waistcoat!"

Hiei and Minamino watched the no-longer-a-couple leave. For a few seconds and mostly just to make sure they weren't coming back.

"I hate soap operas," Hiei said as he turned back around and returned to his milkshake. Stupid girl's distraction melted it a little but it still tasted good.

"Normally, these scenes do not happen," Minamino said.

"Of course, by you never leaving the Academy in the first place."

"No, not quite. While it is true I rarely require leaving the campus, I do have the occasional errand to run, as you are aware. Typically, I have done what I have needed and am back at the Academy before most students make their exodus. I do not usually stay."

"Why did you?" Hiei said mockingly. "You want to go through the flower path?"

"Are you asking me to walk through it with you?"

"No, I'm not!" Hiei shouted, cheeks quickly flushed in anger, and then curtly turned his stare to the opposite side. "Why would I want to?! You're the one with the stupid flower fixation."

"My previous annual studies of the path have shown me that the path is decorated every year in the same common, popular flowers, pretty but of little academic interest to me."

"Figures," Hiei grumbled and again hooked himself back onto the milkshake.

"Good to know you are feeling better," Minamino said, smiling at him.

Hiei snorted and raised his head haughtily in clear indication he believed that no supposed change in his mood had happened. He would scoff and scoff but never admit to any truth.

"Ah, there it is," Minamino said in response to Hiei's and Hiei had no idea what the hell he was referring to. "You were quite unsociable this morning, even for you. I will assure you it was quite noticeable. Also I will say this to put it on record so you cannot later say I never asked but do you wish to talk about it? If there is something troubling you, however minor you may trivialize it to be, I will listen. It is what friends do."

"No," Hiei said and left it at that.

Friend or not, Hiei was not about to tell Minamino anything. It wasn't as if a boy like Minamino would understand. Of course, he would not understand. Not truly. Minamino had the Academy catering to his every whim. He had the love and respect and envy of every student and teacher. He had a loving family. What would Sacred Heart's young messiah know of hardship? Of the things Hiei had been through?

Nothing. He would know nothing. Their friendship (strange as it was, especially to Hiei) aside, Hiei refused to tell him anything because he would not understand. He would only pity him. Hiei did not want his pity. He wanted no one's pity.

Minamino made a swift check of his watch and announced that they should head over to meet up with Yusuke and Kuwabara at the Crown soon. Having found the bottom of his milkshake cup anyway, it did not matter to Hiei. Minamino stood. Hiei stood. While Minamino waited, Hiei tossed their empty cups in a nearby bin.

A step behind Minamino as they left, Hiei's eyes were drawn to the seat of Minamino's pants. He wondered how in the hell could someone wear so much white and not get dirty. So there really had not been a speck of dirt on that bench, really? Minamino sat all that time and not one grain or molecule of filth adhered to his rear end. How believable was that? It wasn't. It was bizarre. It was bizarre as…as…

As staring at a friend's backside for much too long in search of smudges but instead getting annoyed at how impeccably clean and white he managed to keep the pants covering his said backside.

Head and eyes firmly affixed toward the ground, Hiei hurried to match pace and walk side by side with Minamino.

Starting today, white was his _least_ favorite color.

-o-

Whatever shadow had cast itself over Hiei earlier this morning had mostly lifted by the afternoon. The renewed presence of his familiar sullen, amicability-deficient friend was certainly a relief to Kurama Minamino. First look at Hiei this morning had yield the wonder if everything was all right. Once again this morning Hiei had shades of the same hatred and fear in his eyes as the time he became ill at breakfast. On the bus, Hiei had withdrawn and for most of the morning he had kept his eyes everywhere but within Kurama's view.

Kurama supposed Hiei did not wish to make eye contact with him all morning simply because he did not wish draw attention that anything was wrong. In that endeavor, Hiei partially succeeded. As for not alerting Kurama to any problems, however, his dodging only compounded his suspicions that something was bothering him. He had offered his friend an opportunity to divulge his problems but, unsurprisingly, the stubborn boy refused to. At least Hiei had snapped out of his self-isolation and was willing to interact with Kurama again. That at least, Kurama could be pleased about.

Kurama still found it strange that, though his mood was back to normal, Hiei was still evading eye contact with him and, as it were, was staring at the ground with a very sulky expression. Kurama softly sighed. There were times when he could read and predict Hiei's actions easily and other times Hiei was unknowable. The boy was an endless flowing spring of contradictions, after all. Kept things interesting, Kurama supposed.

Through the automatic sliding doors of the Crown Game Center, Kurama led the way as Hiei followed, grimacing at all the flashing, colorful lights, hyper pop music, and loud voices from both people and games alike.

They found the other half of their quartet sitting in front of their own video screens across from one another playing a fighting game. Standing behind Kuwabara, Kurama noticed which series the boys were playing and was familiar with it. Aside from its copious fanservice, the series did have its merits and well, it was pretty impossible to make a fighting game not entertaining.

"Hello, gentlemen," Kurama said, eliciting a scream and a jump out of Kuwabara. And inadvertently causing the tall boy to lose the match. Not that he was close to winning even if Kurama had not accidentally surprised him, Kurama noted.

"Gah, why'd you scare me like that?" Kuwabara said, turned halfway in his seat toward him and shot an irritated glare at him as he steadied a hand over his heart and his video screen proclaimed Yusuke's victory. "A little head's up next time, will ya? 'Bout gave me a heart attack."

Kurama merely smiled back.

"Hey, Hiei, surprised to see you didn't hitch a ride back to the Academy," Yusuke said, grinning over his screen. "So how'd your date with Minamino go?"

Kurama paid no mind to Yusuke's insinuation. He knew as well as him the truth and the fact that the boy was prone to inciting quarrels with offhanded comments and insults. He wanted a reaction. He would receive none from Kurama.

Hiei, on the other hand, took to the comment like water to parched soil. Though he showed no greater emotion than his habitual cold indifference, Kurama could tell in the way in sharply turned his head to the side that he was angry. Kurama didn't see why he let it bother him—it was only Yusuke being immature.

"About the same as yours," Hiei growled back.

Yusuke smirked as if he hoped Hiei would smart back at him. "Didn't know Minamino went to the third base on the first date."

Aside from a narrowing of his stare, which still expressed only apathy toward Yusuke's comments, Kurama refused to react. Kuwabara, however…

"Yuck, Urameshi, why would you even joke about that? That's not even funny!" Kuwabara said, eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Like I would let you get to third base with me!"

"Yea right, you can't even get all the way with yourself," Yusuke said.

"I meant 'cause I'm not gay!" Kuwabara said, face pinched in anger. "And I thought you had it for Keiko. What, you tryin' to tell me you like me?"

"She's not my girlfriend. And I'm not gay either." Yusuke's sexual orientation was never up for debate because it was very, very clear to everyone that Keiko was his girlfriend. "Damn it, Kuwabara, it was a joke. A stupid joke. And you had to go all crybaby on it by taking it personally!"

"I'm not a crybaby, Urameshi, I am a man…" Kuwabara should have been on a dark stage under a spotlight with cherry blossom petals fluttering down. "A man who happens to have a specific thing for blue-haired girls. And somewhere out there, there is a blue-haired girl waiting on the other end of my red string, and I, Kazuma Kuwabara, will move mountains to be at her side."

"If that's your type, why don't you go after Botan?"

"What makes you think I haven't, Urameshi?" Kuwabara said, smiling and holding his chin smugly. "For all you know, we could have been dating—"

"She shot you down," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara bowed his head and slumped forward. Kurama noted that one could almost see the weight of sadness pressing down on Kuwabara's shoulders. Kuwabara raised a limp hand, whistled—his pitch matched the sliding descent of his hand, and when his hand reached the supposed bottom, he made an exploding noise and acted out the burst.

"That bad, huh?" Yusuke said. "Hey, how about next round I let you take half damage on me before I attack?"

"Keep your handicaps, Urameshi! If I'm gonna beat you, I'm gonna beat you at full power!"

"And you're not gay," Yusuke said derisively as Kuwabara muttered curses at him and joined Yusuke in selecting their characters.

Hiei watched the pictures of the different girls appear on Kuwabara's screen with the same boredom he shot across the rest of the busy, bright game center. "Why are most of the girls in this game barely wearing anything?"

"Because this is Japan and video games with sexy near naked girls fighting is the backbone of our economy," Yusuke said.

And with that answer so ended Hiei's one spark of curiosity toward his surroundings. Kurama would not be surprised if he headed off toward the door at any upcoming point in time. Despite most likely never having played a video game in his life, Hiei did not seem at all interested in learning. After all, Hiei's sole interest in technology for entertainment purposes started at the invention of the book and never advanced from there.

About a minute later, the game announced Yusuke's victory. Yusuke laughed through his triumphant grin while Kuwabara groaned about how close he had been this time. And then Yusuke asked Kurama if he wanted to fight.

"Hey, Minamino, how 'bout it? Want to play against me? I'll even let you have a handicap. Let's say, eighty-percent damage?"

"Oh, I do not think we require complicating matters with handicaps," Minamino said as he took Kuwabara's place, the boy murmuring that right after this little break, he'd get him then. "After all, it is only a game."

"All right but don't pull a Kuwabara on me afterwards."

"Just what is that supposed to mean, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked in a voice that told he was already aware that Yusuke's reply would piss him off.

"It means don't bitch at me after I kick your ass."

Kuwabara's face grew red but he gritted his teeth and did not yell. "The alleyway behind the laundromat. We'll settle things there."

"Ah, maybe. Me, I don't care either way," Yusuke said. "But you might want to keep what's left of your brain unbruised. Minamino might toss us a pop quiz on the way back." Yusuke laughed through his arrogant smile.

"Actually, Kuwabara's grade is sufficient enough to not warrant extra credit, " Kurama said as he found and selected his character. "Yours, on the other hand, could use the additional assistance."

"Additional assistance," Yusuke scoffed. "That better not be code word for Keiko. She's on my ass enough as it is."

"Yes and no," Kurama said, intentionally to confuse Yusuke. And when he not-so-politely asked what he meant, Kurama clarified. "It can mean Keiko, however it can also refer to Sister Genkai. Of course, additional assistance can simply refer to extra credit, as in completing an assigned project. We can discuss what yours will be on the return trip back."

Kurama could see the muscle in Yusuke's jaw tense as he pressed his teeth together. "Fuck handicaps. I'm so kicking your ass." And then Yusuke saw which girl Kurama chose. "Really? _Her?_   Damn it, I wanted a fight. Not a standoff."

"Yeah, why you choose her?" Kuwabara asked. "She only defends."

"Her character design and storyline is actually one of the more interesting examples in this series."

Both Yusuke and Kuwabara stared at him and said, "No one plays this game for the storyline."

Kurama did not reply as the fight started.

And ten seconds later…

"Perfect Kill! Player Two wins!" the game announced.

"How the fuck did you do that?" Yusuke shouted. "Kuwabara, did he hack the machine?"

"No, he didn't do anything weird," Kuwabara said, easily as shocked as Yusuke.

"Then how the hell—"

"That would be her Mirror Shield," Kurama explained. "While it is true she possesses no offensive, she does possess one technique that captures the energy her opponent expends at her, concentrates it so its force inflicts double damage, and then reflects it back. Being such an unpopular character due to her lack of fighting abilities in a fighting game, no one uses her, therefore don't know about her skill or that she is one of the few one-hit perfect kill characters this game offers."

"Still swear that's a cheat, Minamino," Yusuke said. "This time, fight me. Don't be sneaky."

After another selection of characters and another ten seconds later…

"Perfect Kill! Player Two wins!" the game repeated.

"God damn it!" Yusuke shot up from his seat. "Kuwabara, get over here!"

"What? Urameshi, what are you—"

"I said get over here!" Yusuke ordered as he stomped over. "All right, Know-It-All, there's only one way we're going to settle this and I don't care how much you shout for me to stop." He grabbed Kurama by the shirt and pulled him up toward him. "Because you're going to teach me how to do that. And everything else you know."

 _It is the first time he has ever willingly wanted my instruction,_ Kurama thought. "Well, there is no requirement for the threat of violence, as I would be happy to teach you."

"Will you show me too?" Kuwabara said, pointing to himself and grinning eagerly.

"No, he's teaching me. You'll see everything after I kick your ass with it." Yusuke smirked. "Why don't you show Hiei how to play? He's about on your skill level."

'That's no fair, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, resentful. "Oh, I see, it's only cheating when you get your ass kicked. When it's me, it's—"

"—business as usual," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara glared at him for a beat. "I still don't get why I'm friends with you," he said, shaking his head before honestly looking around. "Hey, where is the runt?"

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders. "Huh, don't know, now that you mention it. Didn't see him leave. He sure said nothing. Minamino?"

"I must admit that I did not observe him leave as well. However, I doubt he has gone far and will return soon enough."

"Yea, probably just went to the john," Yusuke said as he laid a hand on Kurama's shoulder and leaned over it. "All right, Minamino, teach me what you know about her first."

-o-

Hiei didn't like this place. It was too crowded, the lights and brightness of the game machines were an assault on his eyes, and all the noise was annoying. Hiei swept a glare across the room occupied by children, teens, and adults alike. Everyone mindlessly attached to their game of choice, wasting time and money on nothing. It was to Hiei's understanding video games were nothing more than data, codes, and programming—things one could not really see and did not really exist and therefore was nothing. And yet they poured their money into the machines to receive the benefits from nothing.

 _It's their own stupid choice,_ Hiei thought as he continued on his way toward the front door. He was taking a longer, roundabout route on account of the straightforward one being too crowded. Though it may not have seemed like it, he was taking the simplest path. Not like he wanted to stay in this stupid place any longer than necessary. Minamino and the idiots could find him outside when they were done.

His current path blocked off by an audience cheering on a girl and an older boy playing some dance game, Hiei headed off on another way that would have him pass by another game machine of sorts. Like most of the machines in this place, it had way too many flashing lights. There was a young boy playing with his even younger sister watching. The UFO catcher seemed simple enough—work a joystick, press a button, and hopefully catch something.

It was the one game that made sense to Hiei. At least when someone put money into it, there was a chance of winning something. Better than receiving nothing like most people were doing.

Well, with the boy's attempt a failure and an apology to his sad but understanding little sister, the siblings left, the boy mentioning that perhaps their grandmother would give them some change to try again later. Hiei supposed he didn't have to wait for them to leave to finally reach the main doors. He also supposed he could have gone around the machine or walked past them, that there was more than one way to get around the pair without having to wait for them but he hadn't.

Hiei stopped in front of the UFO catcher—there had also been no need for that—and stared. Hiei saw a lot of plush animals, characters from video games and cartoons, smiling fruits and glittery candies—if it could be turned into a fluffy, sweet, cutesy plush doll, it was in there. And then Hiei saw something that would suffice.

He knew he had in his pocket the sole leftover coin from Minamino. He had been in the habit of carrying it around with him to give his hands something to do while he thought in the off chance he didn't feel like reading. Even now, he turned the coin in circles as he deliberated on whether to use it or not. There was a fifty chance he would waste it. And a fifty chance he wouldn't. But Hiei supposed it had served its purposes as a tactile distraction enough for him and he now needed it more for its original function. Hiei dropped the coin into the slot.

A few swift calculations and angle adjustments—and his best attempt to suppress the crawls running through his body at the thought of hundreds of other people having touched the same joystick, Hiei positioned the claw above his selected prize, pressed the release button, and needled a glare into the machine that ordered it to work. It might have been luck, Hiei's skill, or simply the machine knowing better but the claw hooked Hiei's prize and held it tight all the way to the prize chute.

Ugh, now that he had it, Hiei hoped the game center was distracting enough that no one would see it with him. He supposed it wasn't as sickeningly sweet as some of the other prizes but it was still cute. Hiei hurried. He wanted to get rid of it immediately. Every step was not fast enough in his opinion.

Minamino was playing against Kuwabara—even Hiei knew there was no contest there—and Yusuke stood perched beside Minamino. He grinned and stared in awe at the video screen.

"Why don't game creators tell you about these moves?" Yusuke said. "Why do they leave it to us to figure them out? Like I'll figure out which ten buttons and directions you have to press to do one move."

"That is the nature of the spirit of discovery," Minamino said. "There is no surprise and enjoyment involved in the learning process if you walk into the endeavor knowing everything."

"And that's coming from King Know-it-all himself," Yusuke said. "So, wait…how do you do that again?"

"Should have paid attention the first time," Hiei said. "Don't repeat yourself."

"Hey, Hiei," Yusuke said as Kuwabara looked over his screen, surprised, and Minamino turned slightly in his seat and smiled at him. "Been wondering where you went."

"I left," Hiei said, "and then I came back. I can do that."

"And here I thought eating our weights in sweets was your best talent," Yusuke said, laughing.

Hiei ignored him. The fact that Yusuke was probably right was beside the point. So far, Hiei hadn't had an opportunity to actually eat his own weight, much less Minamino and the others' weights, and he wouldn't until a bakery or a candy store opened its doors and told him have at it.

Not that Hiei had ever daydreamed anything of the sort in Iwamoto's class—because that would be a wish and Hiei wished for nothing—but if the opportunity ever arose, he wouldn't say no. Very few people would. Although most people couldn't eat their weight in sweets, either. Hiei would try. He would never turn down a proper challenge.

"Speaking of eating," Kuwabara said, "anybody else hungry besides me?"

"Yea, I could," Yusuke agreed. "Burgers sound good?"

No one protested otherwise. Hiei watched as Minamino picked up his bookstore purchases. He was relieved to see him not once send the slightest glance toward his bag, much less inside it. Fine by him. Wasn't a big deal anyway.

"All right, Kuwabara's paying!" Yusuke said, smacking him on the shoulder blade.

"What, Urameshi?! That's not fair!"

"Yes, it is. You lost all those times to me, now you got to pay for it."

"We didn't have a bet!"

"Well, we do now!" Yusuke said, laughing as he ran out the sliding automatic doors.

"Urameshi, get your sorry lying ass back here and face me like a man!" Kuwabara shouted as he rushed after him.

Which left Minamino and Hiei to walk casually together. Neither one of them were going to try and catch Yusuke or Kuwabara, even though Hiei was fast enough to reach them—he was just too lazy to do it. After all, there was no point in such exertion. When they were through playing tag, they could come find them. If they could find them. Hiei was fairly certain he could convince Minamino to play along and keep them just in sight but out of reach from Yusuke and Kuwabara. If they could play tag, they could play hide and seek.

"To just once possess their level of energy…" Minamino said.

"Why? It's all wasted," Hiei said matter-of-factly. "None of it's going to their brain."

-o-

Kurama Minamino was glad to be back and that his bed was behind this door. He had enjoyed his day out immensely but even he was prone to exhaustion after a long day. So far his schedule for the rest of the evening consisted of taking a shower, an optional study hour, and then an early bedtime.

He entered his dorm room and drew back the urge to fall onto his bed at noticing Kaitou was in the room studying. It wasn't a surprise. Kaitou always occupied their room more than Kurama. Far as Kurama knew, Kaitou only left their room to attend classes, fulfill basic human necessities like eating, and to visit the library. Any other time, he was here.

"My, is this not an aberration," Kaitou said with bored sarcasm. "Minamino not only left the Academy for a whole day but he has returned to his room before midnight."

"It is a shame the last shuttle bus leaves at nine and we have to sign in by the eleven o'clock curfew or I might as very well been out past midnight," Kurama said, as he sat on his bed and removed his shoes to his great relief.

After Yusuke and Kuwabara had ran off, Hiei had suggested (with such an evil little smile, Kurama had to note) that they should play a kind of hide and seek with them. After all, it had been rather rude of them to run off and leave them and should they not be taught a lesson for their discourtesy? Kurama had to admit Hiei had a point and noted that their manners did deserve improvement and very easily agreed with his idea.

So they had spent a good three hours wandering the city and leading Yusuke and Kuwabara around before at last allowing themselves to be found by the irritated (and by the end of their game) pissed off boys. Now that the four of them were all hungry, Yusuke and Kuwabara had demanded that Kurama (since Hiei had no money) pay for dinner for having them search all across the city for them. Kuwabara still had wound up paying for everyone.

"As if you could not figure out a means of flouting the rules," Kaitou replied. "Oh, yes, Kurama Minamino does not break rules. He is a good boy."

 _As long as the image in the mirror remains unskewed, yes._ "Something on your mind, Kaitou?"

Kaitou's stare was impassive but not without an underlining hardness, his raised guard matching Kurama's own. "Dangling modifiers," he said," and how to make a room full of nitwits not crack a dick joke."

 _You will have to lie better than that._ "Sometimes you have to let the inevitable pass. After all, some annoyances are unavoidable." Kurama smiled in sympathy. _Though you can mitigate their effectiveness._

"Point made and agreed, Minamino," Kaitou said coolly and returned to his book.

 _You made the wise decision in backing down, Kaitou. Shame you have had all day and that is the best show you could make out of your time,_ Kurama thought, getting up and picking up his bag from the bookstore left by his bed and setting it on his bed. _…And you grumble about how your scores can never supersede mine._

Thinking nothing of looking into his bag as he organized and prepared to put his purchases away in their proper places, Kurama was surprised to find something soft and feeling not at all like something he had bought along his errands. Both curious and concerned, he grabbed the unfamiliar find and pulled out a plushie. A kitsune plushie.

The kitsune was made out of a shiny, silky bright gold material and had six tails, the tufts at each end were made from a fluffy, cream-colored fur. Its eyes were forever upturned into mirthful crescent shapes and its arms were raised slightly up in a perpetual cheer, perfect for hugging it, he noted.

It did not matter to Kurama what emotions Kaitou saw from him. He would see nothing incriminating, nothing out of place. If he saw anything, he would see appreciation. He would see him touched by the surprise, though he would not see how truly deep the feeling ran.

Kurama admired the little plush. He gazed at it and lightly brushed its tufts into a semblance of neatness. By the end, the fluffs of fur looked more like six ghostly fireballs.

"Yet another offering from your admirers, Minamino?" Kaitou sneered. "Oh, if we all could be so fortuitous…"

He smiled gently, his courtesy laugh even softer. "I am afraid you are incorrect, Kaitou. It is a gift, however not from any admirer. It is from a friend. A thank-you."

"Your friend has cutesy tastes," Kaitou quipped back.

Kurama noted with some self-satisfaction the jealousy laced in Kaitou's sarcasm. Walking over to the windowsill, Kurama set the plush beside the photo of his mother, one angled slightly toward the other.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Much thanks goes out to Eve (elvenlogic) for his/her kind comment and also to the many readers who gave kudos in the wait for CH 14. Thank you all for your kind support.
> 
> Chapter title comes from Psalm 143:8. I admit it might not make much sense at first. Also warning, for some reason, there's quite of bit of bestiality mentioned in this chapter. Tends to happen when Iwamoto shows up too much in one chapter. The jerk just turns everyone nasty and negative, including the chapter itself.
> 
> Also I've been editing the chapters, so the massive paragraphs, typos, and whatever errors I noticed are corrected. Some viewpoint character jumping and early installment weirdness remains however. The story won't be flawless but it at least has a few less technical errors.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: Still don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

-o-

Chapter Fourteen: For In You I Do Trust, I Lift Up My Soul Unto You

-o-

Hiei didn't know who had put up the poster-sized drawing of Iwamoto getting fucked in the ass by a horse while sucking off a dog on the whiteboard but it had definitely not been him. Not that Iwamoto had listened to him—granted the bastard had yelled so loud it had been impossible for him to hear anyone and Hiei had not been about to raise his voice to his level. He hadn't believed Hiei either when he showed him honestly the full extent of his artistic ability. Iwamoto had thought he was mocking him. No, Hiei just wasn't that good at drawing.

But to whoever had done the drawing, Hiei wanted to give a quick nod of praise for their skill, scoff at their lack of originality and cowardice, and punch repeatedly in the stomach until the organ burst for forcing him to serve a detention with Iwamoto gleefully supervising.

The bastard's punishment this time was picking up trash in the cafeteria. Not only was the floor left untouched from dinner, Iwamoto had spilled out bag after bag from the cafeteria, restrooms, and Science Hall bins. The floor was coated in food spoils, soda bottles, used toilet paper, hair, wrappers, wadded-up papers—every imaginable piece of Academy trash culminating in a smell (and taste) that was truly indescribable in exact terms of pure horrendousness—and Hiei had to pick it all back up with his bare hands.

"You enjoy filth?" Iwamoto wickedly sneered. "Then wallow in this filth, you little fucking pig."

It was a few minutes past midnight when Hiei at last made it back to the dormitories and, despite his oaf roommate being asleep, Hiei stormed in and out of their room in a rush to get to a shower stall.

He was by no stretch of the imagination afraid of germs. In fact, he hated touching things that other people had touched for the thought of indirectly coming into contact with those people more so than for any bacteria or viruses. But still, picking up the Academy's waste was still disgusting beyond measure. Hiei didn't even bother turning on the cold water and dove right into the steamy cascade, biting back any shouts as the hot water met his skin.

For the rest of the night, Hiei thought of one thing and one thing only—getting revenge. After all, since Iwamoto had cast the first stone, it was only right in Hiei's mind that he should get to drop a mountain on him.

-o-

Kurama Minamino had just finished taking attendance, which mostly consisted of counting to six, although once in a while Kurama would take a proper roll call on a whim and to quite honestly burn time on a short lesson day. He was just about to open this week's lesson on ecosystems when the classroom door opened and in strutted Father Iwamoto, a smirk on his face and a folder in his arms pinned at his side.

It soon became very apparent to Kurama that today would be his rescheduled performance evaluation. It was not all that unsurprising and having passed all his other evaluations with Iwamoto with exceptional recommendation before, the news of his evaluation today did not alarm him. He would perform no differently today than for any other tutorial session.

His class, however, did not share his sentiments. Each one seemed curious to know why Iwamoto was cramming himself into a back seat.

It came to Yusuke to ask the question that was on the others' minds, albeit using much coarser language and tone than many of them would have used. "The hell is he doing here?" he asked, turning around in his seat and glaring at Iwamoto.

"Yusuke, face the board," Kurama commanded with only the slightest sternness in his otherwise pleasant voice. "Father Iwamoto is not of your concern. He is none of yours in fact. I suggest that you all please disregard his presence entirely."

"Can do," said Yusuke and Kuwabara in unison. Hiei gave a small smirk in agreement. Iwamoto snarled.

"Very well then," Kurama said, smiling rather brightly. "We shall begin today's lesson. This week we are studying ecosystems. By definition, an ecosystem is—"

As he informed his class, he surveyed his students and noted their reactions to the unwanted attendance of Father Iwamoto within the classroom. It was clear to him that no one in the room, including Kurama himself, enjoyed Iwamoto's presence. Everyone's moods seemed to change for the worst. Normally bright and eager Botan quieted and kept her eyes elsewhere in discomfort. Eriko was terrified of Iwamoto. Reiji was the only one indifferent but then again Reiji was always indifferent when he was not outright asleep. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei hated Iwamoto.

Although he figured it was for similar reasons, Kurama did not know exactly why Yusuke and Kuwabara hated Iwamoto but he was well acquainted with why Hiei despised the brute. Kurama did not exactly have high regard for the man himself either but matters outside of his control had bestowed Father Iwamoto the occupation of an instructor at Sacred Heart and placed him as his faculty advisor in the tutorial program and Kurama reluctantly had to bow and confer respect to the bipedal boar.

Though Yusuke and Kuwabara were keeping to their word to ignore Iwamoto, Kurama did note the rigidity of Hiei's form. Every muscle in his arms crossed over his chest to his jaw and scowl on his face was tight and firm. The air around him gave off the impression of a snake coiling back into a corner and rearing in preparation to strike.

Not that it was unsurprising to Kurama that Hiei would show this much repulsion to Iwamoto. If Iwamoto was so brazen to insult Hiei within Kurama's view, albeit in a backhanded manner though one would had needed to be deaf not to pick up on the contempt lining his voice, Kurama often wondered how he treated Hiei in private during detentions if he had seen Iwamoto's 'polite' public behavior.

_I do believe Father Iwamoto is the human equivalent to arsenic. Even a drop of his company befouls the social waters and transforms it into poison. After all, nothing is potable once poison has been administered._

"Ecosystems rely on the flow of energy to sustain order and balance. Can anyone tell me what is the major source of energy within an ecosystem? How about you, Miss Botan?"

Surprised about being asked first, Botan jumped a bit in her seat and then quickly scrambled and searched through her textbook for the answer. Clearly she did not know the answer right off and with the way she was randomly flipping pages, it would be a long while before she found the chapter on ecosystems, much less found the answer.

"Ah, no need, Miss Botan," Kurama said, offering her a reassuring smile. "Please, just tell me what you think the answer is. Often our first instincts are correct."

"Okay, um…" She looked up at the ceiling, put her finger on her lip, and thought. "The flow of energy…the flow…flowing comes from… Water!"

Kurama resisted the urge to bow his head in incredulity. _I wonder what is the true accuracy of one's first instincts? And is the percentage no greater than any other fifty-fifty question? I have my suspicions it is._

Nonetheless, Botan was a good student. She was always eager to learn, never caused trouble, and asked questions when she needed them and her test scores were consistently above average. She was just a bit…flighty at times. The first day of a new lesson was rarely a good day to expect her to answer a question correctly—after all, it was all new information she did not know yet.

He softened his smile and lined it with regret. "Unfortunately, Miss Botan, that is not the correct answer. However, I thank you for taking a chance and giving it your best guess."

Though he paused for a moment as if contemplating who to ask next, Kurama had already decided. He just hoped he decided to cooperate. Granted he was not in the best of moods but Kurama doubted he would give anything but the right answer, what with Iwamoto present. Much as Iwamoto wanted to believe otherwise, he was not stupid. Perhaps Iwamoto would be forced to acknowledge that but knowing the brute, answering a basic question correctly would hardly be enough proof of his intelligence.

Still anything that knocked down Iwamoto's arrogance even in the least was an action well worth pursing.

"So, who will give me the correct answer?" Kurama said. "Hiei, will you?"

As a more or less standard response to Kurama selecting him to answer a question (and Kurama often did because Hiei's class participation was very necessary), Hiei scowled and looked away. Even though it would be quicker and easier if he just gave the answer, Hiei always gave a fruitless rebellious show of obstinacy, though Kurama noted the time between his little act and him giving his answer was decreasing.

As he made notes, Iwamoto smirked. It was not exactly something an advisor was supposed to do during an evaluation. Advisors were meant to stay impassive—only expressing their feelings over their observations during the performance review. Though he knew the smirk was nowhere directed toward him and was all for Hiei and his silence, no doubt misinterpreted by Iwamoto as a lack of knowledge, Kurama still took offense to his assumption.

At a long enough show, Hiei finally answered.

"The sun," he said, feigning his disapproval and reluctance at being 'forced' to answer. Though it would sound real enough to the others, Kurama was accustomed to his stubbornness and recognized it was a put-on.

"Correct," Kurama said, with pleasure.

As he turned toward the board to begin constructing a basic diagram of a simple ecosystem structure, he quickly observed the sudden disappearance of Iwamoto's smirk and the arrival of its replacement, a hard frown. Only when his back was toward his class and his face was hidden did Kurama smile to himself with much self-satisfaction.

-o-

It was a little time past nine-thirty at night when Hiei made it back to the dormitories after serving another detention toward repaying his fixed wall. Tonight's supervisor had been Sister Midori so of course Hiei was back at the dorms before midnight. She never made him work past ten and all of her jobs were relatively easy in comparison to the rest of the faculty's choices. Tonight he had to polish all of the Academy's trophies and the only thing difficult about that was the number of trophies the Academy had amassed.

Though Hiei had to admit, as he rubbed his aching shoulders and headed up the stairwell, this had been the most strenuous job Midori had ever made him do. For the first time, she had actually given him some work and he hadn't spent most of the time trying not to fall asleep out of boredom. Sure, polishing trophies hadn't been enjoyable or exciting work but it was a step above office work.

Of course, he had homework but he had already completed what he had intended on doing. He was getting the slightest fraction better at doing his homework. Father Takenaka insisted he finished all of his homework but Hiei only finished an extra two, maybe three, assignments out of what little, if any, homework he actually did for the week. He considered it his compromise. He still ignored Iwamoto's assignments.

So instead of doing his homework, Hiei planned on continuing _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ for the rest of the night. Much as he didn't want Minamino to know he had checked it out and thus had accepted his recommendation, he equally did not want to admit that the book was actually pretty good.

Hiei entered his room and for once did not mind so much at seeing Yusuke on his bed—after all, he had some need to talk to him (and Kuwabara, he guessed, since he was in the room and would probably have some involvement later on).

Whatever they were talking about before Hiei arrived didn't matter to him as Hiei tossed off his shoes and announced, "Change of plans, we're getting Iwamoto this week."

Both Kuwabara and Yusuke stared at him, eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Not that I'm against nailing the bastard, but why?" Yusuke asked. "We've got him quite a bit. I was kind of hoping to hit the old man this week."

"Retribution," was all Hiei said as he grabbed his book and got comfortable in bed, well, as comfortable as he could with Yusuke near by.

"Not that I can't figure out somethin' but what did Iwamoto do to you this week?" Kuwabara said. "I know you had detention with him but wasn't it for payin' back the wall?"

"No," Hiei spat back. "Iwamoto falsely condemned me because _someone_ drew a picture of him."

"Oh shit, sorry, man," Yusuke said, sounding surprised and apologetic, a rare show of either from him.

"You drew it?" Hiei said, eyebrow quirked and his voice brusque. He honestly had never thought Yusuke would have been the artist. Sure, he hated Iwamoto as much as him but Hiei wasn't aware that Yusuke had any drawing abilities.

"Nah, Reiji did," Yusuke explained. "Didn't mean for you to take the heat, though. …Guess this means I kind of owe you."

"Join me in getting revenge and I'll call it even."

"I think I can agree to that," Yusuke said and grinned wryly.

"So what you wanna do?" Kuwabara asked. "Somethin' standard or special?"

"Just understand this," Hiei said. "Whatever the plan is, _I_ get to do it. I won't be a lookout this time."

"Let's figure out the plan before we start dividing roles," Yusuke said, earning a sharp glare from Hiei. "Don't worry. You'll get your revenge."

"We still got some of that AB foam left," Kuwabara said. "Why don't we marshmallow Iwamoto's toilet?"

"Huh, not bad but I was thinking of something else," Yusuke said and then peered up in consideration. "Might do that another time though."

Hiei had a few ideas but knew they were most likely unusable. Generally because the vast majority of Hiei's ideas would wind up maiming or potentially killing Iwamoto. Not that he was against that and believed the rest of the world would hardly notice or miss a bastard like Iwamoto but there were too many factors to consider that would potentially leave him getting caught.

For instance, at the sight of a dead teacher, Kuwabara would no doubt go into a panic and would wind up snitching to clear his conscious. And Hiei was not about to rot in prison and let Iwamoto's ashes crow at him from his grave because of his loudmouth idiot roommate. Even though he had quite a few ideas—most of them created in rage and reaction—and Iwamoto was hardly staunching the flow, Hiei would never be able to put any of his thoughts into action. Still, he could dream…

"Honestly, guys," Yusuke said. "I've had something set aside for Iwamoto since last year. Something special."

"Something special?" Kuwabara repeated. "Why didn't you tell me about it then?"

"Didn't matter 'cause I wasn't going to use it right away," Yusuke said. "Actually when I got it done, I didn't know if I wanted to use it afterwards. It's kind of one of those Things You Can't Unhear. Still not sure if I'll use it."

"Well, if it's that bad, you gotta tell me what it is," Kuwabara said.

Yusuke made a short, low chuckle, which could have meant he was proud of himself or embarrassed but it was too unclear to discern which and quite possibly was both. "I mostly threatened and barely paid an audio nerd to splice together a video tape of Iwamoto fucking a pig. Audio-only. The guy did too good of a job though."

Their collective silence and Kuwabara and Hiei's mutual deadpan stares said everything. It couldn't have been more perfectly awkward if a gentle wind had whistled through the room.

Hiei was the one to break that silence and asked the question-of-the-day. "Why?"

"I was pissed off and I wanted to get back at him," Yusuke said defensively. "Like you."

"That would not have been my first idea," Hiei said. No, his first idea involved beating Iwamoto to death but he wasn't about to inform Yusuke of that and prove his first thoughts were much darker. Not that Yusuke would have found that knowledge too surprising.

"Come on, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, shooting a disbelieving stare. "You got to explain more than that. What did Iwamoto do?"

"Same shit he usually does. Talked. Breathes," Yusuke said, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. It was a moment or two before he finally said, "He called my mother a whore. My mom's a lot of things but she isn't a whore. And if he can call her a whore, I can call him a pig fucker."

"Don't take this wrong, Urameshi," Kuwabara said as Yusuke glared at him as if he expected to take offense to his next words. "But what does your mom do? How in the hell does she pay for you to go here?"

"I don't know. She's got some 'friends'," Yusuke said and then at Kuwabara's sudden raised eyebrow added sternly, "She's not sleeping with them. I know that much."

"Urameshi, you _really_ sure she isn't—"

"My mom is not a whore," Yusuke said definitively. "I've seen how men look at whores. High-class, street gutters, men give the same look. Her 'friends' don't look at her like that. They respect her. Hell, some even fear her. Mom won't tell me who they are or what she does but I know she's not a whore. Apparently what she does pays well enough for this place."

"It would be a great middle-finger to the jerk," Kuwabara said, hand holding his chin as he reconsidered the tape. "But I see your point. Do we really want to inflict that sound upon ourselves?"

"I know where we can get some earplugs," Yusuke said.

"You really want to take the chance of someone seeing we're the only ones with earplugs?" Hiei said.

"You really want to hear Iwamoto lay it into a pig?" Yusuke replied.

Point taken.

"You're the one who made the tape," Hiei said.

And point received.

"How about this then?" Yusuke said. "Let's think of something else so we don't have to use that tape."

That they could agree on. Doubting its entertainment value and distraction would be necessary, Hiei set aside _Jekyll and Hyde_ and proceeded to remove the homicidal aspects of some of ideas in search of a feasible plan. Kuwabara offered ideas but most they had already done and Yusuke dismissed each one, wanting something grander. Hiei didn't care how massive the plan grew into, as long as Iwamoto was at the center of the humiliation.

-o-

Kurama Minamino lived his daily life on a schedule. Some days were more tightly wound and detailed to the very second than others and other times he had much more leeway in between the main points of his day. Today, his schedule had no such freedom and Father Iwamoto was at this very moment twenty-three minutes and forty seconds late.

Kurama was displeased. He neither enjoyed nor appreciated the undue stress of reorganizing his time to account for the delay. He also disliked immensely the courtesy and respect he would have to offer the boorish priest when he at last entered the room and the fact that if he were late, Kurama would be expected to provide plentiful apologies and present some sort of justification for his tardiness while Iwamoto did not need to and would not.

It was discourteous enough to Kurama that Iwamoto was at all late. It was downright insulting that he was late and Kurama would not receive anything in return for his imposed inconvenience. Fact that Father Iwamoto appeared to believe and acted as if the world revolved around him was a further slap in his face. Actually, if he had wanted to offend him, Kurama would have preferred the slap. At least Iwamoto would have been present already and the slap would have been over and done with so they could move onto his performance review already with much less interruption of his schedule.

Though he presented a patient and tolerant face and smiled and greeted the teachers who entered the teachers' offices amiably, Kurama was anything but. He was not prone to impatience and though he was by definition showing impatience, truthfully Kurama was not being impatient—he merely wished urgently to rectify and proceed onward with his scheduled tasks and engagements. However, he would have to wait until the hindrance that was Iwamoto finally decided to 'grace' Kurama with his presence.

At twenty-six minutes and seventeen seconds, Father Iwamoto at last did just that. He came into the room with his usual haughty smirk and gave no explanation for his delay as he sat down at his desk.

"Ah, Minamino, you're here for your review. Good," Iwamoto said, his voice taking on the rare enthusiasm he showed only to Kurama, as he opened a folder with the standard evaluation files pinned within.

Kurama resisted the urge to inform Iwamoto, whether in direct or subtle words, that he had been here waiting for his review since the prompt time Iwamoto had arranged and merely smiled in reply.

"According to my observations, you are engaging, encouraging, and patient," Iwamoto read aloud. "You possess the know-how and skills to control and direct your class efficiently. You utilize your time well and begin class promptly and provide enough instruction and reasonable work time to last to the end. Your class responds…surprisingly well to your instruction, given the slop you have to deal with. All in all, you meet Academy requirements with flying colors, Minamino. Of course, I would be shocked by anything less from you." He smiled haughtily.

"Thank you, sir," Kurama said graciously. "However, it is important to note that my class is equally responsible for my positive evaluation."

"Now, Minamino, there's no reason to defer so much credit to such waste," Iwamoto said. "After all, clay is just mud until a potter twists and squeezes and carves the lump into something useful."

"While that is true, sir," Kurama said, "I must add that a potter is nothing without material to mold."

Still smirking, Iwamoto lightly shook his head from side to side. "You're too kind to them, Minamino. You can't treat them like friends and certainly not like equals. It'll get you nowhere. You'll never make it as a real teacher believing in drivel like that. Sure, you can handle six but get a roomful of little bastards like Hiei and you'll see things my way. For your own good, Minamino, get tough now."

Kurama did not appreciate the insult against Hiei but no one would have believed he had even heard Iwamoto from the way he kept a smiling face. "Sir, I thank you for your advice but I assure you that I am well capable of managing Hiei, one or many. By your own observation, you noted I possessed the capabilities to handle my class and surely I would be a poor teacher if I could not adapt, correct?"

Iwamoto did not reply. He merely sat with a deep tight frown slashed across his face.

"Also I highly doubt any classroom will ever be consisted solely of Hiei's 'type', as I am most confident that normal life experience does not regularly produce individuals like Hiei. I am positive that Hiei is a result of only abnormal circumstances and if more children like him are being readily created, I would suggest that our society should take deep reflection on our values toward children."

"That may be so, Minamino," Iwamoto said, "but you should still watch yourself. Don't let them prey on your kindness. You're a good boy and I wouldn't want to see your grades and opportunities slip. It would be a travesty if you were dragged down by this forced association with filth."

"Not to worry, sir," Kurama said. "I am not one to tolerate the presence of so-called 'filth' for very long. I tend to keep my company with such individuals brief and only to what is absolutely necessary."

"Good." Iwamoto grinned, clearly not catching onto Kurama's albeit vague implication.

"Sir, if I may ask, is there anything else you wish to inform me about my evaluation or have need to tell me? Because if not, I must request an end to our meeting. You see, I have much homework this evening and time is not in my favor."

Iwamoto gave a short low chuckle. "Oh, I'm sure most of your papers aren't even due for weeks but yes, you can go."

Kurama was glad he could stand up and turn away from Iwamoto's near-constant smirk. Being in the brute's presence for this long nearly forced a bitter underline into his affected smile.

"Minamino," Iwamoto called and Kurama paused at the door, "I would prefer that you start turning in your lesson plans for next week on Wednesdays. I'm sure it won't be any trouble, now would it?"

_Actually, it would be quite the undue inconvenience,_ Kurama thought bitterly. _It is also unreasonable and unfair to me on account the rest of the student tutors only have to deliver their weekly lesson plans on Friday. It is not as if it is a great strain on him to give a cursory look over my plans to note their existence before he mindlessly approves them._

Kurama smiled. "Of course not, sir. I will have my plans done and presented you on Wednesday."

Whatever insincere goodbye Iwamoto tossed at him, if any, Kurama did not care to listen and he left the teachers' offices immediately. With no fellow students around, he dropped his smile and finally allowed himself to express his disgust and irritation toward that insolent jerk that somehow had not only became a teacher but also a member of the clergy.

If there was anything positive about his performance review, it was that it was over and Kurama Minamino could hurry and proceed onward with his schedule after he reorganized it to account for the complete waste of time that was his performance review with Iwamoto.

-o-

Hiei wasn't exactly sold on the plan. For one thing, he saw it more as a prank against the whole Academy rather than revenge against Iwamoto like it was supposed to be. Yusuke assured him that Iwamoto would get the worst of it but Hiei wasn't convinced. That and the plan involved a lot of setup that he couldn't participate in and Hiei had already made it clear to Yusuke that he wanted to do the bulk of the work. After all, he wanted revenge so he should be the most involved, he believed.

And yet, Hiei was sitting on an empty wheeled television stand in the audio-visual storage room while Yusuke and Kuwabara gathered equipment. Completely not what he had expected his revenge plan to turn into.

"Is this still about Iwamoto?" Hiei asked, bored. "Or is this about fluffing your ego?"

Yusuke made a quick wire count and said over his shoulder, "I already told you once. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried. I'm pissed," Hiei said. "I told you I wanted revenge. I'm not doing anything. _You're_ doing everything."

"Well, do you know what we need?" Yusuke smarted back.

"No," Hiei said, glaring at Yusuke, "and that's why this plan sucks. I told you I wanted to set things up. This is _my_ revenge."

Yusuke tossed a bundle of wires hard onto the equipment cart. "Well, if you don't like it, come up with something on your own and do it. And since you're not, shut up and wait and see. For the last time, Iwamoto will get it, all right?"

"Fine," Hiei grumbled as everything about his posture, facial expression, and body language warned Yusuke that he better be telling the truth.

As far as Yusuke had explained, the plan involved playing the audio of a tape over the intercom system rigged to play throughout the school. Yusuke wasn't saying what the tape was or would be or gave Hiei any direct explanation of how this would humiliate Iwamoto. So far, he didn't understand the plan and Yusuke clearly wasn't about to tell him anything.

No, they weren't going to play Yusuke's tape of Iwamoto. No, that Yusuke had burned already so it would never scar the mind of any living soul ever. Because, much as Yusuke liked to ignore and flout the rules, even he knew there were some lines he couldn't cross. That and a prank was only funny if the target was the only one hurt but when a prank turned on the prankster, then it was no longer funny.

Making a final check through their equipment, Yusuke decided they had everything and gave the order to head out. Yusuke and Kuwabara rolled the television set and equipment down the dark, empty hall as Hiei followed, hands in his pockets and a bored expression on his face.

Understandably since there was no one else around, their footsteps and the sound of the cart's wheels rolling against the floor was quite audible in the quiet. Hiei didn't like it. It was too easy to notice. But it wasn't as if they could do this at any other busier time. He reminded himself there was no one in the Science Hall this late at night.

And then Iwamoto, flashlight in hand, turned into the hall and stood mere feet away from them. Both Yusuke and Kuwabara widened their eyes in surprise—Yusuke's quickly sharpened into hate—but only Kuwabara made a loud startled gasp. Not showing his surprise, Hiei glared at Iwamoto.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Iwamoto said smugly and smirked as he shined his flashlight into their eyes. "Looks like three little guilty piggies all in a row."

"Told you he's a pig fucker," Yusuke grumbled not at all underneath his breath.

From the way Iwamoto's frown tightened, the bastard restrained more than just his anger and the large wad of spit he wanted to launch at Yusuke's face. "A wise boy would shut the hell up in the face of their superiors," Iwamoto said and then his proud smirk returned. "But, by all means, add to your offenses."

"Come off it, asshole. We haven't done nothin'. You can't call us guilty."

" _Yet._ You haven't done anything yet," Iwamoto said. "But you were in the middle of something, weren't you? But I caught you before either one of you filthy good-for-nothings could do anything."

"Ah, there you are," Minamino said, his voice sliding in between the harsh tension and sounding peculiarly eager to have found them. Iwamoto soon turned his flashlight onto Minamino but notably avoided flashing it into his eyes as Minamino said with mild surprise, "Father Iwamoto, is there something wrong?"

"Yes, there is, Minamino." As always, Iwamoto's voice was coarse and gruff but his tone became less harsh around Minamino. "Do you know what is going on here?"

"Yes, sir, and it is nothing more than Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei returning the television set we used to watch a short video on the life and influence of Gregor Mendel. I realize that I will not be covering genetics for some time but this video was not one I planned on utilizing and it, along with the accompanying short quiz, served as extra credit."

Minamino was lying for them? Hiei was hearing and seeing this correctly, right? Much as he tried to reason with himself otherwise, it became clear to him that Minamino was doing just that. But why would he? Even though they were friends, not that Hiei had ever told him that, it was still very strange that Minamino was covering for them. Friendship or no friendship, why was Minamino sticking his neck out for them? He wasn't close to Yusuke or Kuwabara and he was not really all that close to Hiei either.

As he and Yusuke and Kuwabara each stared at Minamino, Hiei was confident the three of them were all wondering the same things—why was Minamino lying for them, what were his reasons, and what did he want in return…

"Heh, extra credit." Iwamoto looked over at Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei and did not sound surprised at learning they needed extra credit. Which wasn't true. At least, Hiei knew it wasn't true for himself. "There's no need for all three of them to be here though."

"Oh, you know boys, sir," Minamino said. "Always traveling in packs."

"Well, if they are returning this, they're going the wrong way," Iwamoto said.

"Ah, that is my mistake, sir," Minamino explained. "I am embarrassed to admit I made a crucial error in my directions. You see, sir, I relied on my memory of my usual path to the audio-visual room and failed to take in account the location of the classroom would call for a left turn, not a right. Forgive me, sir, and pardon their actions for it is my fault they are out here."

"And this?" Iwamoto demanded to know as he swiped up Yusuke's box full of their necessary equipment from the bottom of the cart. "What is this, Minamino?"

"Why, sir, it appears to be a box of spare parts," Minamino said, smiling so cheerfully Hiei could tell his answer was meant to be patronizing, not that Iwamoto noticed. "It was on the cart with the television and I did not simply leave it behind in case it was there for a reason. After all, it would be quite inconsiderate of me if I had inadvertently caused someone an inconvenience by not leaving things as they were discovered."

Minamino kept on smiling as Iwamoto considered his words and, much to their surprise, found nothing further suspicious.

"Hn, all right. Make sure it all gets returned." And then he looked over at Yusuke, Hiei, and Kuwabara and smirked. "After all, it would be a shame for a good student like you, Minamino, to get in trouble over these punks."

"I understand, sir," Minamino replied and offered a short polite bow as Iwamoto took his sweet time leaving.

Miraculously, the simple lie had fooled Iwamoto. As did Yusuke and Kuwabara most likely thought, Hiei had expected Iwamoto to pursue further about the spare parts, especially if he had seen most of what was in that box. They had figured the bastard would have put two and two together and caught Minamino up in his lie, not unless Minamino could have lied himself through his lie, which Hiei figured he probably could.

But Iwamoto hadn't and it had only taken a few simple explanations from Minamino to convince Iwamoto otherwise. Actually, it seemed to be less so much what Minamino had said than just him being present that sufficed for Iwamoto. He had believed Minamino's words because Minamino had told him. If any one of them had tried to lie to Iwamoto like that, the bastard never would have believed them. No, he only would have wanted to uncover their lies quicker.

Once Iwamoto was gone and far enough out of earshot, Minamino focused on them.

"Whatever plans you have constructed for tonight," he said, keeping his voice low and rather stern, "might I suggest you delay their execution for another time. You have raised Iwamoto's suspicions and he will no doubt pursue you if you continue. I was able to cover for you this time but, contrary to what you may believe, my influence is not a perpetual saving grace. If Iwamoto is presented with enough suspicion and so-called 'proof', I cannot promise I will be able to persuade him of your innocence. It is nigh impossible to charm and flatter a charging bull, do you understand?"

Yusuke wore an expression like a sulking child and looked away. Hiei gave no response. Kuwabara was the only one that gave a nod that could be interpreted as agreeing.

"So I guess this means we owe you one," Yusuke said, his smirk contrasting with his hard tone.

"Not necessarily, being such a small gesture," Minamino said, his tone lighter, "however if you believe there is a debt to be repaid, coming to class on a regular basis would certainly suffice."

Being that Kuwabara and Hiei went to his class regularly, Minamino's suggested retribution was entirely directed towards Yusuke.

Yusuke's smirk turned into a wry grin. "Maybe," he said.

"So what do we do now?" Kuwabara asked, staring specifically at Yusuke. "Minamino does have a point…"

"We do it some other time," Yusuke grumbled as he started pulling the television cart back toward the storage room. "Damn, I really wanted to try this out."

So it seemed the execution of Hiei's revenge against Iwamoto would be delayed for the rest of the night. Hiei wasn't happy about it but he knew very well it didn't take much 'proof' for Iwamoto to declare someone guilty and worthy of dragging before the headmaster. He also knew it was better for them if they simply waited. He still didn't like waiting. Actually, he still didn't even like the supposed plan they were waiting to execute either.

It was quite clear to Hiei that he had wasted most of the evening on nothing. Not like there was much else he was going to do. There was that other half of an essay he could finish but he figured just getting half of it done was more than good enough to turn in. Wasn't a topic he was particularly interested in so he wasn't about to jump back on it and complete it. Hiei didn't know how he was going to spend the rest of the night. He thought about heading back to his room to pretend to go to sleep while he thought up better prank plans. Seemed like a better idea than going with whatever Yusuke had concocted.

"Hiei," Minamino called as he followed Yusuke. "If you have nothing else you need to do and do not plan on ignoring anyway, would you please come with me?"

"Why?" Hiei turned and asked.

"Yeah, did a marker roll under a desk and you need Hiei to walk under and get it?" Yusuke smarted off.

"No, nothing of the sort," Minamino said. "I just require a quick consultation from him."

"So he has to take another test?" Kuwabara said, clearly not knowing what the word consultation meant. "Wow, shorty, I didn't know you needed that much extra credit."

"Yeah and here I thought you were getting perfect scores," Yusuke said, grinning. "But apparently you suck more at science than I do."

A small vein pulsed in Hiei's forehead as he stood scowling with his eyes closed in annoyance. "A rock understands science better than you," he growled. "And I do not need extra credit."

Keeping his grin, Yusuke flattened his stare. "Minamino says otherwise."

"Minamino lies," Hiei shot back.

" _Sure, he does,_ " Yusuke drew out sarcastically and smirked.

Teeth clenched and his arms crossed over his chest to keep from punching Yusuke, Hiei wondered if hanging around Yusuke Urameshi was still less irritating than being in Minamino's company. He supposed in the long run he was but the way Yusuke was acting tonight certainly made him wonder.

_Idiot. I don't need extra credit. I don't even need Minamino's class,_ Hiei thought as Yusuke and Kuwabara left one way and Hiei followed Minamino in the other. _And I know what consultation means._

-o-

As Kurama Minamino opened the laboratory door and entered with Hiei in tow, an unprecedented moment had occurred. Hiei was not aware of it, of course, and Kurama saw no reason to inform him. In the grand scheme of things, it was a very small matter but, for Kurama Minamino, it was also a large sign of how much he trusted Hiei and enjoyed his company.

Because until now, Kurama Minamino had never allowed anyone to accompany him into the laboratories and to know of his research's existence.

Believing he spent his nights studying, neither Kaitou nor his admirers knew what he was doing late into the night. Only teacher that knew of his work in the laboratories was Father Akashi and Kurama had only given him vague ideas and half-truths, charming the rat-faced man with smiles and undue flattery until the priest had given him his permission, laboratory key, and complete trust. It became very apparent to Kurama that all that Akashi cared about was Kurama making a revolutionary breakthrough and readying himself for the spotlight once he announced himself as Kurama's science teacher, mentor, and advisor.

While Kurama considered himself to a point and his admirers would describe him without pause as friendly, sociable, and approachable, there were many things he kept secret from his fellow peers. His laboratory research had been one of those things.

"So what it is you need a consultation from me about?" Hiei asked grudgingly as he hopped onto a tall stool.

"Nothing," Kurama said. "I merely figured you would rather Yusuke and Kuwabara thought you were forced to be here with me under a false pretense than for me to have simply asked you if you wished to spend some time together and for them to know outright."

At learning about his lie and reluctantly finding appreciation in Kurama's consideration and quick thinking, Hiei sulked. "Maybe I would not have come if I knew you didn't really need me in the first place."

"True," Kurama said with a slight nod to the side. "However you had the choice. You still do, knowing what you know now."

Hiei stayed.

Kurama prepared a slide to go under the microscope.

Of course, Kurama was not about to divulge every detail of his research and was prepared with many vague responses on the off chance Hiei showed interest in inquiring the reason for his work. Still Kurama had asked Hiei to come with him because he trusted him. Though never stated between them, they were friends and Hiei had shown to him by coming to Kirisawa's party that he wished to make their friendship work. It was only fair that Kurama returned the favor by giving Hiei a slight glimpse into the things Kurama kept most hidden. Granted it was a very slight glimpse and he intended to remain quite guarded and secretive but the intention was there.

And besides, Kurama trusted that Hiei would not say anything about his laboratory work. He was not like his ever-gossiping and praising admirers and unlike his admirers, Hiei would not pry but if he did ask any questions, there would only be a manageable few. Kurama could not think of anyone else he could safely invite into the laboratories with him. Hiei was the first and most likely the only person he could trust to accompany him.

"Why did you lie for us?" Hiei asked, his eyes narrowed and watching Kurama as he adjusted the microscope's focus on the slide. "What do you want?"

"You truly think that every reaction belies a hidden motive, do you?" Kurama said, sliding his gaze over onto Hiei and giving him a tiny smile. "I simply did not wish for Iwamoto to catch you in the midst of whatever puerile stunt you three were trying to execute. After all, it is difficult to spend time with you if you are locked up within the Tower or forced into detentions."

"I never knew you wanted more time with the knuckleheads," Hiei said sardonically as he tried to ignore having heard Kurama say that he had lied for them, specifically for Hiei, because he wanted to spend time with him.

"Well, they are my students and I would much rather they attend my classes than be elsewhere," Kurama said. "Frankly, I would not classify them as friends of mine and I doubt they would consider me likewise but I am more than fine with interacting with them whenever you wish to be in their company."

Kurama searched the slide of organic material saturated in his "Base 2" solution but despite his hopes and lengthy, thorough search found no improvement or change. Perhaps his two variants of "Base 2" would offer more potential.

"Why me?" Hiei asked as Kurama changed out slides. "What made you choose me?"

"Choose? What makes you think I held a selection?"

"I don't know," Hiei said. "But I'm not someone others want as a friend. I'm not exactly sought out. Something made you decide me. What was it?"

"Does it matter?" Kurama said.

"Yes."

"Why does it?"

"Because it does," Hiei said, anger creeping into his voice. "I want to know."

"Hiei, why is it that you seek to complicate matters? You always believe that there is more beneath the surface, that everyone has other motives for wanting to be around you. While it is true that people, by nature, are driven by motivations, can you not allow things to be simply what they are?"

Hiei's glare remained firmly fixed on Kurama as he waited for an answer.

"Fine then," Kurama said. "It is simply human nature for people to seek out other people. That is the reason I wanted to be your friend. I merely obeyed the hardwiring of all humanity ingrained deep within my subconscious."

"That isn't _the_ reason," Hiei said. "It's just _a_ reason."

"Yes, that is true." Kurama nodded and smiled.

Quiet as he stewed in irritation, Hiei at last looked away and grumbled, "Asshole."

"We all have one of those, Hiei. It is fundamental piece of human anatomy," Kurama said and smiled with too much amusement. "And so I make this absolutely clear, I did not befriend you by any motivation driven by my asshole."

Hiei's glare could have sliced through steel. But luckily it made no mark on Kurama as Hiei quickly diverted his glare downward to hide the expanding red blush of rage and embarrassment marking his cheeks.

Kurama had to admit to himself that, while he rarely sought to say anything that would provoke Hiei and earn his irritation and yet often found his words accomplishing just that, his last comment had been said with full intention of flustering Hiei. For his own amusement, and Kurama Minamino was in a good mood, he wanted to see how he would react, gauge his expression against his thoughts, and just plain have a little fun with him. After all, it was what friends did.

And as Hiei reacted to his playful and mildly mischievous remark in a most amusing and endearing manner, Kurama shook with quiet, suppressed laughter.

"I swear to God, Minamino, if you make one more sarcastic remark, I will punch you," Hiei threatened and only threatened. He was clearly not all that mad at him since he had only attacked him with words and not outright punched him. Hiei was not one for words. When he was angry, truly angry, he struck. Fact that Kurama was able to say such a remark and provoke him so and leave with no harm done to him said volumes.

"You should never make empty promises, Hiei," Kurama said, still smiling, as he turned around to prepare the final slide with his last potential solution. "Especially to God. After all, He might grow angry at you and do absolutely nothing to you."

"As if I care—" Hiei scoffed and then realized what Kurama had said. "Wait. What?"

His back still turned away from him, Kurama smiled and said nothing in response, leaving Hiei to wonder his meaning for himself or even if he had truly said what he thought he had said. Kurama did not want to spoil his fun, after all. And after a day spent too much in the company of Father Iwamoto, Kurama Minamino was finally in a very good mood.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks goes to scandalmonger, serpensortia06, and Adri for commenting on the previous chapter and thanks to all those who gave kudos since the last chapter as well.
> 
> Okay, so this isn't Kurama's canon birthday—which as far as I know, Togashi has never given, dubious sources saying otherwise—but for this story, I'm gonna go with it. And Kurama does something that could possibly be seen as borderline OOC and admittedly I wrote it in because it amused me. And probably Hiei too, for good measure. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I keep asking but no one wants to give me the rights to YYH.

-o-

Chapter Fifteen: Happy Birthday, Minamino

-o-

It was times like these Hiei wanted to quit the track team. Actually, what he really wanted to do was punch out every last one of the well-wishers approaching him and offering him banal encouragements of good luck in the upcoming regionals. Sure, punching them out was most likely an action that would also get him expulsed from the track team but Hiei actually considered that a win-win. Except for the fact that Father Takenaka would figure out some way to keep him on the team anyway and punish him by other means.

Even if Hiei had tried to quit again, he wasn't about to get forced into doing community service, as Father Takenaka had proposed for Hiei's alternative extracurricular activity if he obstinately decided to go ahead with quitting the track team. Given the fact that it would not be long before Hiei didn't have to run in another meet again, Hiei chose to finish out the lesser sentence.

Still it wasn't as if he didn't consider blackening a few eyes or breaking a few noses. Especially right now as the last student reporter with the most courage or mental defect to shrug off all of Hiei's many threats against the school newspaper if any one of them tried to interview him decided to follow him as he and Minamino left the track field and headed back toward the dormitories.

"Jaganshi! Jaganshi!" the chubby fool shouted, already out of breath from his short sudden burst of speed. "Could I…get a few words? Your thoughts on…Sacred Heart's chances…in the regionals?"

Hiei paused in his step, turned around to face the guy, and shot him a dark glower. "You have until the moment I stop speaking to get the hell out of my face before I—"

And then the irritating obstruction was gone, more than halfway back to the track field in a matter of seconds. Even though he was hardly in the right shape to run that fast, fear and adrenaline worked miracles. And with confidence that there was no one left on the school newspaper that would be stupid enough to bother him, Hiei proceeded back to the dorms with Minamino beside him.

"That was rather generous of you," Minamino said as Hiei slid his stare over to him and raised a questioning eyebrow. "You easily could have said much less if you really wanted to hurt him."

Hiei turned his head to the other side. "He's not worth it."

"Yes, I do see how the aftermath of your actions will not be worth the trouble."

"No, the idiot himself isn't worth it," Hiei clarified.

A brief moment of silence passed between them. It was neither unexpected nor uncommon. It would be short, just as soon as Minamino stopped considering and thinking, which was usually the reason for their pauses.

As it was, as they stepped onto the main campus quarters, Minamino had finished considering and smiled at him. Hiei was not sure if his smile was sly or simply marked with interest.

"Hiei, do you place value in anyone?" Minamino asked.

"No."

"Do you believe people can have value?"

One of the things that made talking with Minamino interesting and annoying was determining whether his questions were meant to be interpreted at face-value or in other ways and whether they were agreeing on the same definition of a word. Minamino was not against word games either. In fact, he seemed to frequently amuse himself with them.

Of all potential definitions of the word 'value', Hiei disliked all of them. It was a word he much preferred struck out of use but it was a concept so integral to humanity that the word would never fade out.

"They can and have been and will continue to be," Hiei said, "but I don't think anyone should be given value."

"And why is that?" Minamino asked, clearly finding enjoyment out of their discussion. Hiei didn't particularly see why he found it so interesting but Minamino often found or feigned interest in little things for various reasons of his own. In all likely, mostly to amuse himself.

Hiei didn't like this conversation. He chose a vague answer and hoped it would satisfy Minamino's interest. "People are people."

"That is true," Minamino said, tipping his head lightly to the side in agreement. "Hiei, if you do not mind, I would like to extend our route to permit a quick visit to the Academy's post office."

Hiei didn't care. He didn't really have anything else to do at the moment. Shrugging his shoulders in indifference, Hiei followed.

The Academy's post office was located near the administrative offices and wasn't too far from the cathedral. Hiei had been there only once before when Yusuke had stopped to break a yen note into laundry change and the post office was the only place with a change machine. The post office itself was nothing impressive, just rows upon rows of student post boxes and a large, square service window. Really, the change machine was the most interesting thing inside.

A bell chimed above them as Minamino entered the post office and Hiei entered in tow. The postal clerk gave a cheery but obligatory hello from behind the service window. After a quick polite return greeting, Minamino took out his box key and opened his post box.

Hiei also had a box key but the chance of Hiei ever getting mail was the same as Kuwabara finally winning a fight with Yusuke so Hiei never checked his mail. He wasn't even sure where his box key was. He guessed it was still in his dorm room. Somewhere.

Of course, Minamino had mail. No surprise there. Hiei didn't care enough to see what it was but he did notice when Minamino paused at the sight of a small yellow card and separated it from the rest. Hiei didn't know what it meant but apparently it was important enough to warrant a visit with the postal clerk.

Hiei waited as Minamino waited for the postal clerk to return after taking a cursory glance at the card. The bell above the door rang.

"Ah, Jaganshi, can I have a moment? I won't keep you long," said a guy Hiei knew he had seen before but couldn't remember who the hell he was. At the moment, Hiei was just hoping he wasn't another well-wisher.

"Now I know we've had out our differences in the past but I'm here because I want to call a truce. I am generously willing to allow you to bask in your own tiny spotlight, what with your little track victories and all." He fluttered his hand dismissively before putting on a smile and laying his hand on his heart. "And I'll remain the Academy's Most Beloved and Beautiful Prince Among Athletes. I'm sure we're both exhausted from this petty and ferocious feud we've been having. I say it's time we end this unnecessary war between us and vow never to interfere in the glory of the other and simply stand together and celebrate one another's successes. Do you agree, Jaganshi?"

"Fine," Hiei said. He had no idea what this idiot was talking about but if saying yes made him leave quicker, Hiei was fine with agreeing.

"Great," he said and smiled, though there was an edge of arrogance lining his smile, and Hiei wondered why the guy was acting so calm and serious, instead of flamboyant and dramatic as Hiei expected him to, for some reason. "Regionals are soon for you, right? Well, I wish you well." And then he strutted out of the post office and away he left. Preferably never to be seen again if Hiei had his way.

"And who was that?" Hiei asked as Minamino, holding a box as large as his chest, stood beside him.

"Suzuki," Minamino explained. "He tried to kill you once."

"Oh, yea…" Hiei said in a dull voice as he remembered him. "…I hate clowns."

Matters at the post office complete, Hiei returned back to the dorms with Minamino. Along the way, five more students passed by Hiei and quickly offered their wishes of good luck. If there were any more students thinking of doing the same, Hiei's dark glare forced a reconsideration.

"They really think their little words are going to make a difference?" Hiei said haughtily. "Their words mean nothing. I'm the one running. It's my physical condition and speed that matters during the race, not whether they told me 'good luck'."

"It is a standard response," Minamino said. "A verbal expression of support without the need to actually participate in actions that would benefit the team. It is school spirit or, subconsciously, a victory by proxy."

"Exactly," Hiei said. "They want to feel like they've helped but without contributing anything. If they really wanted to support the team, they should have tried out for the team and ran a race for themselves."

"True enough, however not everyone can be on the track team," Minamino said. "So the proper response is to offer one's encouragement to those who were skilled enough to be selected onto the team so then your victory can be their victory."

Hiei shot his glare over onto Minamino. "Are you about to wish me well too?"

"I have confidence that you will perform as best as your abilities and condition allows you tomorrow. Whatever the final result will be, will be."

Though Hiei refused to say so or appeared appreciative of his response, he actually preferred Minamino's neutral response over the others' well-wishes. It was neither supportive nor dismissive. He wasn't trying to needlessly bolster Hiei's confidence toward victory. He knew how fast he was and so did Minamino. Hiei didn't need luck. He had skill.

"Since the dining hall will not open for dinner for about another hour and a half, would you like to socialize in the meantime?" Minamino asked as they entered the dorms and headed up the stairwell.

"I'm going to take a shower," Hiei said. It wasn't an excuse. More often than not he washed off after practice and, since there was practicality and truth in his words, it was not an excuse.

"Very well then," Minamino said. "I shall leave my door open."

With Minamino continuing up to his room on the third floor, Hiei returned to his room to find Kuwabara hanging out with those three apparent friends of his again. Kuwabara said hello but the three other guys, never being around Hiei before and most likely was aware of what the rest of the Academy and Kuwabara had said about him, just stared at him. The fat one sitting on Hiei's bed did scramble to get up and muttered quick apologies. Hiei grabbed what he needed and took a shower.

Briefly returning to his room after his shower to toss his laundry into his bag and put away his bath supplies, Hiei left, ignoring Kuwabara's offer to stay and hang out with him and his friends. He hadn't planned on going up to Minamino's room. Sure, he didn't have anything else to do but Hiei didn't like the idea of hanging out in Minamino's room and would have rather hung out anywhere else. They were friends, true, and he could tolerate being with him out on campus, like in the dining hall or in the laboratories, but the thought of being in his room made him uncomfortable. After all, rooms were personal spaces, private, and Hiei didn't think they were all that close of friends yet.

But Hiei proceeded up the stairs anyway and reached Minamino's room and found Minamino gone. It did not take long to find him. Following the sound of his voice, Hiei peered around a corner and saw Minamino talking to someone on the dorm's pay phone. There were few people Minamino would have to call, Hiei knew well enough, and Minamino soon verified Hiei's first guess.

"…No, no, Mother, it was plenty enough. There is no need to go to the trouble. …Yes, I realize it is no bother, however it is not the sort of thing that survives the ravages of postal delivery," Minamino said, facing away from Hiei's view. "Not to worry, Mother, in a few years we can have a proper celebration."

Celebration? What did Minamino mean by that? Was today something important? Hiei couldn't think of any national holidays it could have been. In fact, Hiei was pretty sure it was an uneventful, unimportant day.

As Minamino's conversation began to focus more on answering his mother's concerns of his well-being, Hiei went back to Minamino's room to wait. His dorm room itself wasn't any different than Hiei's own. All the rooms were built and furnished the same. As for personal adornments, there was very little in the room from either Minamino or his roommate. Mostly there were books. There was a small television on the broad, countertop-like windowsill and some sort of video game system hooked up to it. Despite his proficiency at that kind of entertainment, Hiei doubted it was Minamino's. Minamino spent far too much time away from his room to have any use for such time-wasting devices.

There were only two personal decorations in the room Hiei knew with absolute certainty belonged to Minamino. One was a picture of himself with a woman Hiei presumed was his mother and the other was the kitsune plush Hiei had secretly given him on their day away from the Academy. Hiei wasn't that all taken aback by the fact Minamino had probably figured out that he had been the one that gave him that plush.

What actually surprised Hiei was the fact that the gift had touched Minamino enough to display it. Truthfully, Hiei had figured Minamino would have hidden it somewhere out of view or offered it to someone else just to get rid of it, not place it on his windowsill beside a picture of his mother in full view. But it was there. Hiei looked away from it and tried to ignore its presence. After all, he didn't want to bring attention to it in any way in the rare chance Minamino hadn't figured out he had given it to him. If he hadn't, Hiei wasn't about to let him know.

The box was on the desk. Still unable to figure out why today would be a cause for celebration, Hiei looked inside the box but didn't find much for answers. Minamino's mother had sent him new clothes, a round red tin container with a pretty flower design on its lid, what looked to be letters but the envelopes were sealed, and two boxes of something called Koala's March. Hiei picked up one of the tall boxes and saw that they were some sort of biscuit with chocolate inside. Tearing open a box, Hiei ate one as he waited for Minamino to come back. They were pretty good.

Minamino finally returned and didn't really seem all that surprised that Hiei had gotten into his sweets. "You at least left me the other box, did you?"

"Yea," Hiei said, "but if you leave the room again, I make no promises."

"Very well then. I will have to never leave you alone again," Minamino said, flashing another one of his smirk-smiles as Hiei tossed another chocolate koala into his mouth and looked away in a huff.

Much to Hiei's preference, Minamino sat in the desk chair and not on his bed with him. "I admit I would have preferred to call her sometime later in the evening but she will be hosting my stepfather's family over the weekend and now is the only time my call will not be an inconvenience."

Admittedly Hiei found it somewhat curious that Minamino had a stepfather but he found it neither important nor appropriate enough to ask anything about his family or the reason why he had a stepfather. After all, Hiei didn't feel they were close enough as friends to ask about his family and Hiei did not really want to know because family had never mattered to Hiei. It was probably due to divorce anyway and divorces weren't interesting.

"I suppose this will not spoil your dinner," Minamino said as he removed the round red tin from the box. "Not that you have not already proven yourself indifferent to any foods aside from ones consisting of at least more than seventy percent sugar."

Hiei refused to respond to that as Minamino loosened the lid, tipped the contents toward Hiei's view, and asked, "Would you like one?"

"There were cookies in that?" Hiei hadn't expected there to be cookies inside it. Actually, he had not given much thought about the round tin's contents at all. Only thing Hiei had considered about it was why Minamino's mother would have sent him something so old and gaudy. It definitely wasn't something Minamino would have asked for.

"Yes, after all, it is a cookie tin," Minamino said, smiling, as he laid the cookie tin on the corner of his bed. "And so you are aware, I recognize the threat I have placed all my future packages in by informing you of said cookie tin's existence and purpose."

"Hn. It's your own damn fault," Hiei said, quickly swiping two cookies.

-o-

Something told Kaitou to test the doorknob first before he looked for his key and, to his surprise, he found it unlocked. There was no reason for their door to be unlocked. He and Minamino had an agreement to always lock their door on their way out and Minamino would never have forgotten. Unless he was inside.

Kaitou opened the door to discover that indeed Minamino was momentarily occupying their shared quarters for once. And most peculiarly, there was another boy in their room. Hiei Jaganshi, if Kaitou's memory served him right. And he could have sworn he had heard Minamino softly laughing.

 _Strange… Minamino has company,_ Kaitou thought as both boys stared at him—Minamino's stare was far more cordial and he smiled while the other boy glared at him—as he entered the room. _And it is Hiei Jaganshi. Now why would Jaganshi willingly socialize with Minamino?_

Minamino offered Kaitou a standard greeting and then introduced Hiei to Kaitou and the boy grunted at him in acknowledgement.

"A pleasure," Kaitou quickly and coolly responded. _Is something this is not,_ he finished in thought.

Even without his higher intellect, Kaitou knew his presence was a disturbance. In particular, Jaganshi did not care for his intrusion into his own room, though if the stories were true he did not care for anyone's presence. Except Minamino's, so it appeared.

_I suppose there is no end to whom the great Kurama Minamino can charm._

Kaitou was used to the silence his entrance brought in the off chance Minamino was momentarily inhabiting their room, sporadic as those instances were. However, whatever conversation he and Jaganshi were having, though Kaitou doubted Jaganshi would have provided little in return, had ended suddenly or was slow to restart. Most likely if Minamino tried to speak with him while Kaitou remained, the best he would receive would be coarse grunts.

"Pardon me as I collect a few things. I will not be long," Kaitou said as he switched out his History textbook for his Calculus.

"Actually, Kaitou, the room is yours," Minamino said, rising from his seat and putting away an apparent tin of cookies. "I do believe dinner has begun and Hiei and I can proceed over to the dining hall and you may study in your preferred location."

"Fine then, Minamino," Kaitou said, moving out of the way to grant Minamino passage through the narrow walking space between their beds. "I will see you…sometime in the morning, I presume?"

"That would be an accurate presumption," Minamino replied, smiling as he picked up his light purple backpack and slid a strap over one shoulder.

As Minamino left, Hiei Jaganshi followed in tow, still harshly glaring at him. Kaitou returned the sentiments and closed the door once they were gone. Sitting on his bed, he laid his school briefcase with all his as-of-yet-incomplete assignments beside him and considered. He had the time. His homework could wait.

 _This is peculiar,_ Kaitou thought. _In the three years we have been roommates, I have never once seen Minamino bring someone into our room. Not one person. As gregarious as Minamino is within the campus and to the outside world, Minamino keeps our room private, though mostly by never being here._

_Granted I have always been thankful of that. Despite his many, many friends and admirers, I have never once been bothered by their unexpected accompanying of Minamino within our quarters or by surprise visits._

_No, that is not entirely true. In our first year as roommates, there had been a steady influx of giddyheaded giggling girls knocking on our door in search of Minamino, only to discover that no, Minamino was not in his room and that I did not know where he was, whether I actually did or not in truth was irrelevant. It had become such a regular disturbance that I did have to place a sign on our door informing seekers of his absence so that I could study in peace._

_Still that boy, Hiei Jaganshi… Minamino brought him into our room. Innocuous and trivial as it may be, it is still an aberration._

_And if I know Minamino, nothing is trivial and there is always something. Things do not just happen with Kurama Minamino. He plans. He plots. He orchestrates. Things happen because Minamino intended them to happen. There was a reason he brought Jaganshi into our room._

_What it means, I do not yet know._

-o-

Hiei sat to the side of Father Takenaka's desk and begrudgingly worked on his homework as the headmaster supervised very closely nearby. The headmaster had only given him two options—either complete his overdue homework under his supervision or spend his weekends taking supplementary comprehension tests and reading to local orphans and his weekdays in detention with Iwamoto for the rest of the school year unless he completed his homework on his own before then.

And so disliking kids that would most likely spend the majority of his story time pointing out the fact he had red eyes and calling him a freak while the others cried and ran away in fear of him, dreading the mushy kid-friendly garbage he'd have to read to them, and still bearing an absolute hatred and repugnance of Iwamoto's continuing living, Hiei chose the lesser of two annoyances.

Truthfully, there was a part of Hiei that didn't mind being holed up in Takenaka's office. At least here there was no one other than Father Takenaka that would offer him their well-wishes. Dinner had seemed at first like it was going to turn into yet another steady string of 'Good luck tomorrow, Jaganshi' and 'You can do it, Jaganshi' until Hiei nipped that in the bud by shouting as loud as he could throughout the cafeteria that the next person that wished him well would get forked in the eye and that without delay ended any and all future well-wishes for the time being.

Unfortunately, the teachers that had overheard his order had deemed it a threat and didn't allow him to carry the fork in case Hiei had wanted to make good on his promise and Hiei definitely had wanted to and had forced Hiei to toss his plastic fork away and sent him to Takenaka's office, which was no great punishment since he was forced to go there anyway tonight.

Besides if students were dumb enough to approach him to offer their well-wishes after his shout, Hiei believed they deserved to get forked. But the teachers had fussed and fretted and were being overprotective for the so-called safety of the other students. It wasn't like a person couldn't live without one eye.

But Takenaka had talked to him about controlling his anger, specifically about restraining it (like that was ever going to happen), and that it was never a good idea to shout threats in the cafeteria. And when he found out the reason for his outburst, Takenaka had smiled and advised him well-wishes were nothing to get angry over and to simply accept their kind words with at least a nod and to just let it move on, failing to take in account that Hiei hated the vast majority of the student body, didn't want their support, didn't want to act at all friendly to any one of them, and that he probably would have strained his neck if he had to nod to every stupid single well-wisher that approached him.

Takenaka wanted him to be nice but Hiei was not nice. All of Hiei's niceness had been eroded and chipped away by the other kids, prospective parents, and staff at the orphanage until his time with the man had surgically removed what remained of his worn-down niceness. Hiei had the same prospects of being nice as he did of shapeshifting into a psychic sea cucumber.

Currently tackling a high stack of Algebra homework, regular and extra, Hiei worked steadily, the irritation of having to show his work preventing him from breezing quickly through problem after problem. Being able to verbally give the answers to every problem at a cursory glance, mathematics was not at the forefront of Hiei's mind and focus. Hiei spent the majority of his time trying to figure out what would be a cause for celebration today.

There was no national holiday Hiei could think of and a quick check of Father Takenaka's desk calendar proved there was nothing important on the day's date. Hiei didn't really know of any Catholic holidays, except maybe Christmas but Christmas in Japan wasn't exactly a religious holiday for most of the population.

Hiei tried to remember a few more Catholic holidays from the director's brief teachings but the story of Noah's ark kept coming to mind and Hiei was pretty sure Noah and his completely-not-every-animal-on-Earth-filled ark didn't get a holiday. Hiei tried to remember some of the director's teachings but Hiei's brain had pretty much chucked out those memories as useless and what little remained didn't amount to much. He finally remembered the director one time saying something about a day being a saint's holiday.

Hiei paused from his work, looked up and saw Takenaka thumbing through papers beside him, and asked, "Is today a saint's day?"

Father Takenaka peered over at him, smiled at his rare interest in anything religious, and then looked down at his desk as he searched his memory. Not long after, he said, "I believe it is the Feast Day of Saint Anthony of Padua."

"Is he the patron saint of clothes, cookie tins, and koala-shaped chocolate biscuits?"

"No, I am afraid not, Hiei," Father Takenaka said, finding amusement in his question. "While saints can be deemed patrons of many things, Saint Anthony of Padua is chiefly the patron saint of lost objects and people and of finding them."

 _Unless Minamino lost those things, I'm pretty sure that's not why today is important,_ Hiei thought, frowning, as his one potential possibility was proven wrong.

Hiei returned to his homework, unhappy that he still had no idea why today was worthy of celebration. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Takenaka watching him and considering.

"Is there a reason you wished to know if today was a saint's day?" Takenaka asked.

"No," Hiei said, without looking up from his work.

"Are you sure?" the headmaster pressed on. "It is not exactly a question I would consider typical from you."

"I'm not seeking a sermon, sir," Hiei replied. "I just overheard things, murmurs in the halls is all."

It wasn't a lie if Hiei told partial truths. Not like he was about to tell Father Takenaka about Minamino and potentially invite him to help him figure out what today was. Hiei didn't need his help. He could and would eventually figure it out by himself.

In time, Takenaka went back his responsibilities and the silence returned. The hours passed between them with little conversation from Hiei's side, though Father Takenaka would every once in a while make idle chat, asking the same sort of questions adults asked when they had to talk to a child they barely knew. He asked how he liked Sacred Heart and how he liked being on the track team and if he thought being on the team had benefited himself in any way—as if Hiei was honestly going to answer that. He also tried to get Hiei to tell him if he having trouble in his classes for any reason, whether he could see the board or hear the teacher correctly or if any students were disturbing him, inside or outside of class.

Hiei didn't reply much, once in while nodding or grunting to any question he deemed safe enough from any further inquiry. Takenaka's questioning and attempts at chatting mostly annoyed him. Hiei hated people that acted like they cared. All Takenaka wanted was to make sure he didn't misbehave anymore.

"I do believe you have repaid your debt to the Academy," Takenaka said. "I bet you are happy to have your evenings and weekends free now."

"Great," Hiei said in an unenthusiastic voice.

"Yes, it is," Takenaka said. "Shows great responsibility for a young man to make amends for his wrongdoings."

Aside from a brief derisive snort, Hiei ignored the headmaster's praise. It wasn't as if he had necessarily chosen to repay his debt. In fact, Hiei really hadn't been given much of a choice in the matter by Father Takenaka.

At last, the tall grandfather clock chimed ten and Takenaka dismissed Hiei. On his way back to the dorms, Hiei tried one more time to figure out why today was important. But if it wasn't a national holiday and it wasn't a religious holiday and it wasn't his birth—

_Minamino's birthday._

Eyes wide in surprise, it dawned on Hiei that he hadn't considered it might have been Minamino's birthday until now, even though he had no clue when Minamino's birthday was so it could have been a possibility if he had only considered it earlier. Now everything made sense. Minamino had received plenty of letters from his mother before but only a birthday gift would warrant a phone call to his mother.

Hiei groaned. Now that he knew it was Minamino's birthday, he wished he hadn't figured it out. Hiei didn't care about birthdays, not even his own. In fact, he had stopped celebrating his birthday after he had been found in the man's basement and sent back to the orphanage. Hiei thought birthdays were pointless.

But most people didn't think birthdays were pointless. And Minamino didn't think birthdays were pointless. And Minamino was Hiei's friend so it was probably important that he gave his friend something on his birthday. It was the right and proper thing to do on a friend's birthday, after all.

 _Stupid birthday, stupid Minamino for being born and having a stupid birthday,_ Hiei complained. He didn't know what Minamino would want on his birthday. To Hiei, he seemed to have everything he wanted and then some. If he ever wanted something, it was pretty much a few softly spoken words and a smile away. What could Hiei get him? And for nothing, since Hiei had no money.

Hiei was a second away from banging his head against the side of a building when something at last came to mind and he headed off toward the dining hall, confident he could break back into it as easily as all the other times had been.

-o-

Iwamoto ground his teeth, dull pain spreading through his jaw. Iwamoto ground and he glared, though at nothing in particular. He sat facing the left at the teacher's desk in one of the science classrooms as Father Akashi cleaned up the student stations and grumbled how he was going to take off sixty percent of their credit for not clearing their stations.

Iwamoto sat, his elbows against the chair's thin armrests and his fingers interlaced as he considered judiciously of what to do about Jaganshi. Somehow, by the cruel miracle of God or the Devil's design, Hiei Jaganshi had made sure Sacred Heart had qualified for the Regionals. It was indeed unexpected, especially since he had expected Jaganshi to either quit or be unceremoniously expulsed from the track team not a day after his admittedly impressive win. The boy was not a team player. There was no reason for him to stay on the track team.

 _No doubt Takenaka has something to do with that,_ Iwamoto scowled and breathed a sharp snort in disgust. _The boy is Takenaka's favorite pet. He always did prefer the mutts to the purebreds._

"You know what will happen if that little bastard wins tomorrow?" Iwamoto said. "He'll qualify to participate in the Nationals."

"The boy is good though," Father Akashi said, a bitter edge in his words as he reluctantly praised him, as he set a box of trash by the bin, "and he's certainly skyrocketed the reputation of Sacred Heart's track team. Despite his complete lack of respect for his superiors, his incapability to follow orders or complete assignments on time, and his refusal to be anything other than unpleasant and irritating to everyone, he has benefited the Academy."

"At what price, Father Akashi?" Iwamoto said, sliding his sharp glare upon him. "Is glory true if must first sell our souls to the Devil to obtain it?"

Iwamoto watched his fellow priest frown and shoot a hard stare down into the floor tiles as he meditated over Iwamoto's good sense.

"The boy is a pestilence, a plague. Do you truly want him and his kind infesting our halls?" Iwamoto raised a hand and balled it into a tight fist. "Because that is what will happen if we let his face and his standards become a representative of the ideals and standards of Sacred Heart. Everything the Academy has worked and stood for, what _we_ have worked and stood for will be tossed to the hellhounds if we let that insolent dwarf win."

"Hmm… Not to worry," Akashi said, smirking, as he walked over to a cabinet, unlocked it, and rummaged through the beakers and bottles of various chemicals. "Here. This'll fix Jaganshi."

He held up a corked beaker filled partially with a clear liquid.

"I suppose poisoning the boy would work." Iwamoto smiled darkly. "You have taken into account the imp's height and weight into your dosage measurements. Wouldn't want to inadvertently kill the boy with an overdose, now would we?"

"Not to worry. The liquid itself is harmless," Akashi explained. "It does however produce a false positive on any performance-enhancement drug test."

"And it would be a shame if the boy couldn't race tomorrow," Iwamoto said, outright smiling as he stifled the urge to laugh.

"Agreed," Akashi said, his glee over their wonderful plot matching Iwamoto's own.

Out of all the faculty at Sacred Heart, Iwamoto preferred Akashi's company over anyone else's. Akashi understood there were only a select few of students, like Minamino, that was worth their instruction. He understood that the rest did not belong. He understood and thrived upon Sacred Heart's pristine and superior reputation above other schools and knew that nothing could be allowed to sully it. Akashi was the only one that understood Iwamoto and was the only one he could trust and conspire with.

Akashi understood that Sacred Heart deserved only the best.

-o-

It was a few minutes past eleven at night and Kurama Minamino was catching up on his plant taxonomy work for Father Namame, steadily working on a few of the smaller albums. Technically, by Namame's recommended quota he asked of all his taxonomy assistants, Kurama was ahead of schedule but Kurama preferred his own work standards to Father Namame's lax and meager demands.

There were still lots of plants to classify and Kurama had lost spending most of this week redoing another student's work. Instead of having the girl redo it herself, like he should have done and Kurama would have preferred, Father Namame had asked his favorite assistant to go over the five large albums instead, since Kurama could correct her mistakes in far less time than it would have taken for her to figure out what sub-species the plant actually belonged to.

Sometimes Kurama wondered why he had other assistants when it seemed like he had Kurama do most of the classification and often had Kurama look over another student's work to check if they were correct, whether or not Namame knew there were mistakes or not. Kurama regularly wondered why Namame didn't select students with some actual knowledge of plants and understanding of taxonomy or at least trained the ones with potential rather than rely on him more often than not. There may have been other students working on Namame's project but it seemed to Kurama like he was the only one working on it.

As Kurama shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and disbelief as he saw that the girl had classified a primrose as a rose, he heard the laboratory door open and close. Knowing that only Father Akashi and Hiei knew of his research and that no one occupied the Science Hall this late at night, Kurama knew exactly who was there.

"Hello, Hiei," Kurama said without looking up from his work. He actually welcomed the brief respite from his tedious and often irritating work.

"Here," Hiei said, sliding a square box onto the countertop. "Happy birthday."

Those were certainly two words Kurama had not expected to hear today from Hiei. Especially when Kurama knew that Hiei did not know when his birthday was or that he had never told Hiei when his birthday was. Fact was that Kurama had never told anyone when his birthday was and for good reason, not wanting to be inundated with gifts and attention or for his birthday to become an unofficial Academy holiday.

But somehow, Hiei had figured it out on his own. Kurama honestly had not thought Hiei would have taken the time to deduce that it was his birthday. Still the fact that he had pleasantly surprised him.

"What makes you think it is my birthday?" Kurama asked, smiling playfully. Even though Hiei was correct, Kurama did not mind pretending it possibly was not his birthday. Frankly, he wanted to hear how Hiei had figured it out in the first place.

"You called your mother," Hiei said. "You never call her. Write her, yes, but this was different, special, so you called her. And there's no holiday today so this was the only thing it could be that would warrant calling your mother."

 _I never thought you would care enough to notice such details._ "There is still a small chance it is not my birthday and it is some other special occasion within my family."

"Whether I'm right or wrong, either way, this is for your birthday," Hiei said, crossing his arms over his chest, and then added in a wry voice, "I'm acknowledging the fact your mother had sex and gave birth to you nine months later. Congratulations, the condom failed."

 _Of course, he can never show he cares outright,_ Kurama thought. _Always has to deflect the proof that he has a heart with glares and insults._

Unsurprised by Hiei's words, Kurama merely smiled back. "Hiei, I am well aware of the details of human reproduction and the nature of human desire and recognize my presence does mean that my mother at one time did indeed have sex with my father. Without intercourse, none of us would be here. You, myself, Yusuke, Kuwabara…" And though he knew it would displease him, he intentionally added, "…Iwamoto."

He saw Hiei's jaw quiver as it tensed. Breathing a loud angry snort, he turned his head away and grumbled, "Just open the stupid box."

"Very well then," Kurama said, smiling, as he did just that.

Kurama was not sure of what to make of Hiei's gift. Actually what he hoped most was that he did not react with any sort of disgust or surprise so not to hurt Hiei's feelings. Because despite Hiei's near-constant consumption of desserts, including cake, it was obvious that he possessed absolutely no knowledge of how to bake one by himself. Perhaps if someone squinted from very, very far away, one might mistake what Hiei had made as possessing a cake-like shape but nothing else.

The 'cake' itself looked smashed with the top slanted at a noticeable angle and the center was sunken very deeply. The cake was simultaneously burnt around the edges and raw in the center, with a greasy, runny brown liquid oozing from it and soaking the bottom of the box. Kurama knew that molten lava cakes had liquid centers but Kurama also knew there was something inherently and fundamentally wrong with the entire cake and that it was not simply a lava cake gone horribly, horribly wrong.

While he was touched by Hiei figuring out it was his birthday and deciding to offer him a present in acknowledgment and celebration, one he handmade himself even, Kurama very much did not want to place even a crumb of this cake anywhere near his lips. He was quite positive even a morsel would kill him.

They both stared at the cake as the cake's depressed center fluttered and puffed out short wisps of black smoke as it sunk in a little deeper. Neither one said anything. Kurama's hopefully impassive stare was fixed on the cake as he reminded himself yet again that he would have to consume at least a bite of it.

"You don't have to eat it," Hiei at long last said and Kurama released his held breath quietly and unnoticeably. "Fact I wouldn't recommend that you do."

As Hiei picked up the leaky box and walked it over to the trash bin, Kurama quickly made the sign of the cross over his body in relief, despite having not done so outside of church in years. He was honestly grateful that he did not have to taste Hiei's 'cake' in polite appreciation.

 _Still the intention was there,_ Kurama thought as he saw Hiei leave the lab right after dropping the cake into the trash. _I do believe that was the purpose of his offering. Well aware it was not edible, much less palatable, he still gave it to me anyway to show that he had cared enough to try._

_…I do believe that is my true birthday gift from Hiei._

Hiei returned soon after. Something wrapped in clear plastic shined in his hand. Kurama noticed it was a twin-pack of snack cakes from a vending machine.

"Here," Hiei said, head and stare averted to the left, as he handed him one of the snack cakes. "This one you can eat."

Kurama smiled and saw Hiei, pink dotting his cheeks, dart his stare over at him and then quickly away again as he saw him smiling as he accepted the snack cake.

 _I have been granted two gifts of kindness from Hiei today,_ Kurama thought as he watched Hiei take a generous bite into his own cake. _...No doubt there is a captured devil up in Heaven getting its wings ripped clean off._

"Quit staring and eat your stupid present," Hiei said, eyes closed and his head still turned away in annoyance and embarrassment. "Before I do."

Kurama's smile broadened just a hair more and he watched Hiei try to pretend his present did not matter before he finally put his gift to his lips.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to express my gratitude to all the readers that gave kudos since the last update and to Anna, Elicheri, adripants, anon, and mamita for commenting on/since the last chapter. 
> 
> Hiei starting to show attraction…surprisingly has been one of the biggest pains in the arse to write. I realize I eventually had to do it. It's just going about doing it and keeping him in character is the trouble. Still it has to happen eventually and still it's just the stirrings of attraction. Still, I had such a time writing it. At least, I hope readers enjoy it. The Civil Wars' "Dust To Dust" helped immensely. I find the lyrics eerily appropriate for "Angels". It's kind of become their unofficial relationship theme for me.
> 
> I've missed this story so much. I'm glad I could finally return to it. I know it was a long wait but the delay was in part to my new retail job keeping me at work for the holidays nonstop. Luckily, now that it's slowed, I have more time to update. Also, there is another one of Hiei's memories in this chapter and, as a warning, this one is pretty much straight up torture so yea…good times.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: I'm not sure I'd want the rights to YYH. I'd probably mess it up.

-o-

Chapter Sixteen: Minamino In A Different Light

-o

The stands were filling up quickly, especially for Sacred Heart and for once students did not have to be bribed with extra credit to come. However, Kurama Minamino knew there would be a seat saved for him as he walked past the concession stands in search of the only member of the Academy's track team he hadn't caught a glimpse of on the field.

Indeed, Sacred Hearts' track team was doing well this year. The Academy's accumulative wins had shot their overall ranking from the absolute bottom to second-place this year. Finally, the Academy and the track team had more presence out on the field than simply being the host every few years.

Much to Kurama's surprise that he did not have to search across the campus, Hiei was not actually far from the track field. He was sitting under a tree in view of the track field but outside the fences munching on a candy bar, no doubt swiped from the concession stand. He was not alone, however, and Kurama Minamino did not like his surrounding company.

For some no doubt morally offensive reason, Father Iwamoto was attempting to engage Hiei in more conversation than he would have ever had with him in ten lifetimes. And Kurama noticed Father Akashi was also approaching the tree from behind. The closer he drew near the tree, the less casually he walked. In fact, if Kurama's suspicions were correct, and they rarely were not, he appeared to be sneaking toward Hiei. And if his bold grin was any indication, and Kurama certainly thought it was, Akashi also seemed to be quite occupied and pleased by some devious thought.

Kurama knew devious thoughts. He could recognize one as easily as he could pinpoint the precise variety of a rose. His own devious thoughts he exceptionally crafted into devious plots, ones far superior to any Iwamoto and Akashi ever could have conspired together. But without a doubt, they were up to something. They had a plot in motion and Kurama knew. It did not seem to be a particularly good plan but that was inconsequential to Kurama. What mattered was that Hiei played a part—no doubt of the intended victim—in their scheme.

Kurama struck up a conversation with a classmate by the fences so he could observe Akashi and Iwamoto's plan unfold. He could have approached Hiei and put a stop to their plan straight away, however that would have only delayed matters. Neither man was the type to give up without trying and the next time they tried, they would know to make sure Kurama did not interfere again. It was better to assure their plot failed rather than stop it outright.

"Seems you've got a talent for running away—" he overheard Iwamoto say but did not hear the rest over his classmate's chatter. Whatever it was, it was no doubt insulting toward Hiei—Iwamoto's smirk was proof enough of that.

From what Kurama surmised of their plan, it seemed that Iwamoto held Hiei's attention (and loathing) away from Akashi while the rat-faced man crouched down and grabbed his vulnerable bottle of water. Though he had seen him rummage in his pocket and take out what Kurama could only speculate from the shine was a vial, Akashi had hidden his actions afterward from view. However, if Kurama could make an educated guess, and Kurama was very educated, he could have sworn Akashi had poured a liquid into Hiei's water.

_Could their plan be any more cliché?_ Kurama thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes in disgust while flashing his classmate a fake smile in response to whatever humorous anecdote he was telling. Frankly, this actually seemed to be the perfect plan Iwamoto and Akashi would concoct. Neither man was exceptionally bright, even in their field of teaching. With the two of them working together to equate to one mind, this probably was the best plot they could have came up with.

Not only was it predictable and trite, their plan was more than likely unscientifically sound. There was a good chance that whatever sort of effect that liquid was intended to have during his urine test would not be in his system in time but still, on the off-chance that it might, Kurama was not about to allow that chemical inside Hiei.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Akashi was far enough away, Iwamoto's sudden interest to have more than a single word conversation with Hiei died just as swiftly as it had came over him. As Father Iwamoto hustled away from the track field with a much too smug grin, Kurama guided his conversation with a classmate to a close, hopped the fencing, and made his way at a hurried pace that did not appear hurried over to Hiei. He hoped that thirst was not at the forefront of Hiei's mind but it was soon clear to Kurama that Hiei's attention was absorbed in a tightly-sealed candy wrapper as obstinate as him.

If it wasn't for the steady string of curses, Hiei's growling could have been mistaken for a beastly dog's. There were still rumors he had been raised by wolves going around and the rumor had in fact been twisted into a story that he belonged to a pack of murderous werewolves and the way he was growling and now tearing at the wrapper with his teeth did not help disprove those rumors.

For a simple plot executed by two simpletons, Kurama decided a simple counteraction would be the best course in foiling their plan. As he greeted Hiei, Kurama simply stepped just a bit too close to his water bottle and knocked it over. Falling over an exposed tree root, the contaminated water funneled straight into the grass.

"Oh, forgive me, Hiei." Kurama put on an apologetic smile as he leaned down and picked up the empty bottle. "I will get you another."

"Buy me a soda," Hiei ordered, not at all upset at the lost of his water. "That water tastes cheap."

"Any preference?" Kurama asked and Hiei shot him a dull stare, still with the unopened candy bar in-between his teeth. "Oh, yes, of course. Whichever has the highest sugar content."

As he turned back toward the concession stand, he saw Hiei begin round two with the wrapper. Pausing, he offered his hand and asked him if he would like him to try. Hiei scoffed at his chances of fairing any better than he had been but handed him the candy anyway. The tight, thick wrapper instantly pulled loose for Kurama.

Hiei's glare was a mix of confusion and anger. "How did you…"

Kurama handed him back his candy bar. "There is no great magic, Hiei. It is all a matter of knowing just the right way of handling stubborn things."

No doubt the insinuation not lost on him, Hiei chomped down on his candy and looked away in a huff as Kurama smiled and proceeded onward toward the concession stands.

_It appears it will be a perfect day to race and it would be a great shame if Hiei could not participate today_ , Kurama thought, his smile quite pleased, as he tossed the empty bottle into the trash. _Especially if he was disqualified due to the consequences of a dim-witted scheme._

_I do believe the more frightening aspect is that their half-formed plot most likely would have been successful,_ Kurama realized, _if Hiei had put more effort in being more unsociable. I am positive neither Iwamoto nor Akashi took into account that Hiei might have friends…a friend looking out for him._

-o-

Obeying Father Takenaka's request of a meeting as delivered to him by a noticeably disgruntled Father Akashi, Kurama Minamino made his way to the cathedral after parting ways with Hiei after they had managed to sneak away from Sacred Heart's celebration and impromptu victory party on the track field without Hiei winding up visiting the nurse's office once more.

Many of the Academy students were cheering his name—in part due to his record-breaking individual sprint but mostly due to being the final runner in the relay race, thus clenching their win. They also were searching for him but staying around for the Academy's banal and potentially convulsion-inducing congratulations interested neither Hiei nor Kurama.

Heading up the stone stairs up to Father Takenaka's office, Kurama wondered the possible reason Takenaka had unexpectedly called him to his office. He knew enough from Akashi that it was not unpleasant news but he had said little of what the headmaster wanted him for. Nothing he had recently done came immediately to mind but perhaps the subject of the meeting did not necessarily entail him. From Hiei's steady grousing over the headmaster's persistent involvement in his academics—mostly in seeing to it that Hiei completed and turned in his homework on time and raised his grades above failing, it was possible the headmaster wanted to have a word with him about Hiei.

And that was what Kurama Minamino had decided and prepared himself for as he knocked on the headmaster's door and was given permission to enter. It was only when he saw not only Father Takenaka and Father Akashi but a professional-looking woman and, of all people, Enma Daioh sitting down and waiting for him did Kurama dash all previous notions that this meeting was anything but a simple chat.

"Good afternoon, sir," Kurama said, giving the room a polite bow. "You requested a meeting with me?"

"Ah, yes, Mr. Minamino," Father Takenaka said from his desk. "Come in. Sit down."

"Oh my…" the bespectacled woman in a stiff pigeon gray skirt with a white shirt and a matching gray tie said as Kurama made his way to an unoccupied seat beside Father Akashi. "He's a lovely young man, isn't he?"

As he sat down, Kurama gave her a modest smile and thanked her for her kind words.

Crossing one leg over the other and resting his interlaced hands by his knee, Kurama sat formally and with his guard raised. He did not know what this particular gathering of souls in one room would detail but an Academy meeting that involved himself and Enma Daioh put Kurama on edge. Enma Daioh was a longtime financial contributor to Sacred Heart and was in fact on the Board of Trustees and served unofficially as its Head. The Daioh Corporation was very much an invasive vine that liked to intertwine with as much of the native flora as it roots could possibly penetrate. It owned outright or at least partial shares in every possible financial venue it saw fit to infect.

"Mr. Minamino, this is Chinami Yoshino," Father Takenaka said and the woman smiled at him and gave him a short bow in her seat next to him. "And this is—"

"Enma Daioh." Kurama had not actually interrupted the headmaster but had merely finished speaking the obvious introduction to all in the room for him. "Founder and CEO of The Daioh Corporation, which now specializes in a variety of financial avenues but was originally a life insurance firm. Still remains the number one provider to this day."

The giant bear of a man grinned and chuckled deeply in his throat, not that it could be seen under his thick brown beard. "Ah, what a bright, informed young man you are…" His voice was deep and gave the impression he could shake the walls at the slightest raise of his voice. "No wonder you're being celebrated today."

"I am not aware I have done anything worth celebrating," Kurama said.

"An essay you submitted to Progressive Advancements won their Outstanding Young Minds' Award," Takenaka explained, smiling encouragingly at Kurama.

"Funny, I do not recall submitting an essay," Kurama said, sliding his stare over to Father Akashi as the rat-faced man squeaked and pulled at his collar in nervousness.

"Ah, well… The boy is much too modest for his intelligence," Akashi offered quickly as a defense as the room focused on him. "For all his brilliance, Mr. Minamino is reluctant to gather attention outside of the Academy. His paper was too good just to be graded and forgotten. It was worth more critique and acclaim that what I am limited to give him. Honestly, I just wanted to show the boy that the scientific community is ready to hear what he has to say."

"Still that is no cause for posing as the boy and forging his submission," Takenaka said, eyes and frown harsh on Akashi.

"Actually, we do accept submissions from teachers," Mrs. Yoshino said. Apparently, she was from the scientific journal and was not merely a personal assistant of Enma's as Kurama had first surmised. "However, it is with the understanding that they have obtained the student's permission to submit their work on their behalf."

"I had to." Akashi's voice grew shrill. "Mr. Minamino would not have agreed otherwise."

"That is true," Kurama said. "However, I suppose what is done is done in this case. Though for future record, I wish forewarning the next time you decide to submit my homework to another scientific journal, Father Akashi, sir."

Hunkering down into his blazer and tie, Father Akashi smiled guiltily.

"I see why Sacred Heart maintains its reputation if a simple homework assignment is worthy of awards. What exactly was this critically-acclaimed report on?" Enma Daioh asked, a smug look on his face.

"It was an assertion for the additional study of bluebell alkaloids for the purpose of combating cancer and HIV," Yoshino replied. "It truly was a fascinating read. One of the best we've ever read."

"I assure you it was not without its flaws," Kurama said, putting on a humble, even slightly embarrassed demeanor at all the sudden praise and attention. "I was unaware it would be anything more than a class assignment."

"Well, we would be happy to read more of your assignments if you ever wish to submit to our journal yourself one day, Mr. Minamino." Yoshino smiled at him. "In fact, I am here for Progressive Advancement to do a featured article on you as this years' winner, if you would be so kind to oblige us."

Kurama agreed, only because it was expected of him to do so. It was, after all, an award he was being given and it was not polite to turn down good favor.

"May I take a photo for the article?" she asked, grabbing her camera from her messenger bag, and Kurama agreed, again only because he was expected to. After fiddling with her camera's settings and raising her camera up more than once, only to lower it again, over and over, she at last asked, "How about you stand by the window? The lighting is so much better there."

Kurama and Father Takenaka simultaneously rose as Kurama headed over to stand by the window as the headmaster stepped out of view and pulled his chair away. The afternoon sky was blue and clear and the sun was bright and shined just enough through the window to shroud Kurama's head and shoulders with golden rays.

Kurama gave her just enough of a smile to give her the impression of one but truthfully, the interview, even the award, meant nothing to him. His family, especially his mother, would be proud of him but Kurama planned on feigning gratefulness. Progressive Advancements was once a respectable academic journal but once The Daioh Corporation acquired it, it became nothing more than their printed yes-man for validating their self-funded studies of their own poorly-researched-but-immediately-marketable medicines and products. Really, it was no different than if one of Kaitou's essays were being exulted by a tabloid rag.

"It's a shame we print in black and white," Yoshino said, eyes fixated down on her camera screen. "I'm not sure the limited color will duly highlight your…pleasant features to the fullest."

"Why not place him on the cover?" Akashi suggested. "It's in color."

Akashi flinched as Father Takenaka's gaze immediately ordered him to be silent but Yoshino thought it was a great idea and noted aloud that she would have to see if they could at least place him in an eye catch on the cover.

He had wished and, for a second, had entertained the hope that Yoshino would suggest they move to another room to conduct their interview but there was no better room than the headmaster's office so it seemed. Kurama was not sure how he felt about having a small audience around him during their interview but he supposed it was for the best. They would keep him on guard, especially since Enma Daioh was there—Kurama had yet to deduce the meaning of his presence or how might he be later involved. Because Enma Daioh was not simply sitting in for nothing, that Kurama knew without a doubt.

She began with a bit of small talk, intended to relax him in case he was nervous but Kurama was not nervous at all and was quite charming and pleasant. She asked where he was from and wrote quick notes as he talked about his small town and the forests that enveloped his home. He spoke more of his mother than his stepfather, especially since he was an owner of a small but profitable company, for concerns of Enma Daioh considering his stepfather's company a potential threat or future acquisition.

In time, her questions focused on subjects more applicable for a scientific journal. "What is your preferred field?"

"Botany," Kurama answered. "It has captivated me since childhood. I was never the kind of child that blew away dandelion seeds. I spent my summers observing the dandelion's natural life cycle and my autumns cataloguing fallen leaves."

"Patience must be your greatest virtue then," Yoshino said and giggled girlishly.

Kurama broadened his smile just a bit. "Oh, I am _very_ patient."

"What is it about botany that holds your attention to this day?"

"The juxtaposition of extremes and the necessity of expertise within the field," Kurama said. "Some of the loveliest flowers contain the highest concentrations of toxins and if one cannot distinguish between subspecies, the medicine procured from its organic material could be one's savior or executioner."

"How far-reaching do you think your expertise in plant identification is? Do you think you could specify any plant shown to you? What kind of trees are in pots outside the headmaster's office?"

Kurama blinked twice and told himself not to show any irritation at her ridiculous flurry of questions. She reminded him a lot of his admiring classmates, especially since she was inadvertently reviving an old aggravating game of theirs. It had taken him until his second year to finally persuade his admirers to stop inquiring him of the name of every single plant that ever sprouted on campus just to see if he knew—which he did but, after a while and one too many questions, he had just started making up answers and to his frustration and disappointment, no one had ever disbelieved him.

As she waited eagerly for his answer, Kurama forced his smile and said, "Truth be told, the potted trees are fake and while I am confident there are plenty of plants I am yet unfamiliar with, I will say that my knowledge is extensive enough that Father Namame entrusts me to scrutinize the classifications of his fellow greenhouse assistants."

"I bet the greenhouse is a second home to you."

"I am familiar with it," Kurama agreed. "However, I do not often possess the time as I would like to tend to it more properly."

"Is that so?" Yoshino said, eyes wide with curiosity. "What other sort of activities are you involved in?"

"Chiefly, I am a science tutor in the Academy's tutorial program."

"I bet you're a _wonderful_ teacher," Yoshino said and again giggled girlishly.

As Kurama tipped his head downward in a show of bashfulness, Akashi butted in, "He's our best. He's an absolutely excellent teacher. …Though I admit this year, he has his work cut out for him. Half of them are nothing but no-good, lazy punks who don't realize how lucky they are to have Minamino here as their tutor. It's a shame he has to waste time teaching the unteachable."

"Seeing how those so-called punks are now at passing or showing marked improvement and are projected to reach a passing grade by first semester's end, I believe Minamino is doing a fine job this year as he would any other," Takenaka said, eyes and voice stern toward Akashi, warning him that this was not the place to discuss such matters.

"Well, if there was anyone who could teach them," Akashi said, "it would be Minamino."

Yoshino's pen had not stopped scribbling for several questions now. "Anything else? Hobbies? Special interests?"

"I volunteer in various Academy-sanctioned community service events, helping out my fellow classmates with fundraising and various projects." Kurama hoped Father Akashi would keep his buckteeth tight and not mention his free access to the laboratories in front of Father Takenaka. What little he knew of his research's existence was too much but Akashi had yet to say anything so far but hopefully he would continue to do so.

"I am sorry to say I do not really have much in the way of hobbies," Kurama continued. "I am very academically-inclined so even my relaxation is some form of reading or studying. I do make time to spend with friends and once in a while, I will amuse myself with a video game. What little spare time I acquire, I am afraid it is utilized in rather mundane, uninteresting pursuits."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Yoshino asked keenly.

Kurama softly laughed, even feigned a bit of embarrassment. "Ah, no, I do not. I am afraid I am just not interested…right now. My academics and my participation in the tutorial program consume the vast majority of my time. I weigh the importance of every matter vying for my attention and a romantic relationship would just be a distraction in my life. With what I want to accomplish, I do not have time to be distracted."

"So what can we expect from you post-education, Mr. Minamino?"

"I plan on researching and developing new medicines and cures derived from botanical sources," he said. "Perhaps it is folly but when I was a child, I was once taught as a so-called fact that for every illness, there is a natural cure out there waiting for us to discover. In heart, I still believe this and I see no harm in seeking the validity of its truth. After all, perhaps we will not uncover a panacea, however we might uncover cures for a handful of afflictions. The possibility alone makes such research worthwhile, does it not?"

As Yoshino's eyes shined with admiration as she gazed back at him like so many of his love-stricken female classmates, Enma Daioh laughed. Loudly.

"You, boy, are a remarkable young man. I've heard much about you and I'm glad I stuck around to finally meet you," the large ogre of man with corporate executive privileges said. "Your ambitions are quite admirable and grand for a boy your age."

"Thank you, sir," Kurama replied, offering him a short polite bow.

"A mind like yours will go far in this world. The Daioh Corporation could use someone like you."

_'Use' is the operative word here…_ Kurama thought as he thanked him for his compliment.

"That is why I'll be glad to fund a study on bluebell alkaloids," Enma Daioh said, much to the surprise of the room. Though he did not visibly show it, Kurama too did not account for this possibility. "I can't necessarily hire you but I'd like to make you a consultant. Every so often, I'll provide you with my researchers' data and you can give us your thoughts and guide us along in the right direction. Between my resources and your brilliance, I'm sure we'll have a cure for cancer or whatever by the day you graduate. What do you say, boy?"

Knowing what he knew of The Daioh Corporation, Kurama's emotions, in a rare victory while he was still momentarily off-guard, overtook his reason and responded first.

" _No_ —" Kurama said almost immediately but then caught himself, as his sense of reason took control once more.

"No? What do you mean no?" Father Akashi shrieked, his voice high and shrill in disbelief. "Are you turning down Enma Daioh's offer? Do you have any idea what you're snubbing, boy?"

"Akashi, calm down. It is Mr. Minamino's decision to make after all," Father Takenaka said, hands raised in a please-settle-down manner. "But I must admit to some surprise as well. This is, after all, unprecedented."

"Unprecedented is right…" Enma Daioh said. "I can't remember the last time I've ever been told no. …It doesn't happen very often." Kurama did not like the sly manner in which he was smiling.

"It is not that I do not appreciate the offer, sir. I truly do," Kurama said, bowing gently toward Enma Daioh in his seat. "It is simply that I am pressed for time as is with my academics and I do not believe my schedule could permit such a significant addition. Quite frankly, if you will allow me to be, I do not believe I could bear the weight and since I believe I am not qualified, I must decline with grace and gratitude."

As Akashi tried his best to convince him otherwise, Kurama ignored him and put on a respectful, appreciative expression and pretended to be sad, even a bit regretful that he could not accept Enma Daioh's very generous offer. Truth was that if The Daioh Corporation's laboratories were the only labs that would accept his research, Kurama would have gladly gave up his theories and simply ran a flower shop for the rest of his life.

_I am all too aware of your practices,_ Kurama thought as Enma Daioh offered him his business card and told him that if he ever wished to reconsider or even if he wished to discuss another project altogether that he was welcome. _You wish to steal my ideas but utilize your men and laboratories to execute them with. You want to isolate and marginalize my involvement so there is no requirement to credit me, should my theories produce viable developments._

Kurama graciously accepted his business card and thanked him for his interest and planned on burning it in the lab tonight. After all, one way of cleansing an infection was to apply great heat.

_I will not let a single thought of mine be corrupted by your corporation. You might steal what you can from my essay but I will relinquish that. It was, after all, merely an assignment. I put no more effort in its content than what I knew would deliver me a perfect score from Akashi. There is more filler than substance throughout the whole paper._

… _I do believe I understand why your peons at Progressive Advancements deemed my essay so exceptional and were so drawn to it now._

Once her interview with Kurama was over, Yoshino asked Father Akashi and then Father Takenaka what she considered a few supplementary questions for her article. Akashi's interview brought Kurama the most concern, especially if he would let Kurama's laboratory use be known, but the smug rat was too busy asserting himself as Kurama's greatest influence and mentor to ever directly mention something about Kurama.

At last, the interviews were over and Kurama was finally dismissed. He was glad to finally be rid of Enma Daioh's presence—though he had not looked to confirm, he had felt Enma Daioh's eyes on him throughout Akashi and Takenaka's questioning.

At least, he could finally breathe and relax and not feel as if he was being stalked by prowling bear. The gentle breeze and the fading twilight edging toward a starry night was a welcomed relief to behold once he exited the stuffy, smoke-scented cathedral. It was only after he checked his watch and discovered the cafeteria was closed by now did he frown just a bit.

But it was no great matter to him. Kurama was well-prepared in case of such matters. Truthfully, he was not really all that hungry, despite having not ate since breakfast, but logic told him it was better for his health if he ate and it would appease his mother's worries.

In all actuality, he was more disappointed that he had missed dinner with Hiei. He much would have rather spent his afternoon and evening with him rather than pretending to graciously bask in the honor of an insignificant award he never applied for and never would have.

-o-

If it wasn't for his own stupid pride, Hiei would have lost that race. It wasn't like he hadn't considered it during the race because he had. It wasn't that he didn't like running—it was just having to run on a team and for the Academy's benefit he despised—and yet pride refused to let him lose, even if it would've been better for him if he had.

Especially since every one of his track victories drew more and more of the Academy toward him, like klaxon sirens to a zombie horde, and with his new Regional victory, Hiei couldn't escape the congratulations as every damn student at the Academy seemed to shamble out of the woodworks just to come up to him and give him their inconsequential praise and hellos.

Hiei had spent the afternoon searching for solace. At first, thinking it would be the safest place to avoid the hordes and for a time it was, he had holed himself up in his dorm room, only for Kuwabara and his three friends to invade. Something about his track victory suddenly gave Kuwabara's friends the courage to talk to him and treat him like he was one of their own. A few harsh words and even harsher stares put an end to their sudden show of camaraderie.

Hiei moved onto the library, had been flushed out of all his hiding spaces, and then took refuge in trees, only for students to stand underneath him and talk to him and for teachers, drawn by the students, to come over and order him back down. Hiei didn't know why all the students were flocking to him but it was probably because each one of them thought they were special and their words were so important they had to tell him when in truth they didn't matter, their words didn't matter, and Hiei just wanted to be left alone.

But students just kept showing up, trying to congratulate him—some even trying to touch him—that Hiei just ran from them and sought Minamino out in hopes he could attract their attentions away from him or that he could persuade them to leave him alone better, somehow. After all, he was used to this kind of attention. Surely, he knew how to manage stuff like this.

He didn't remember seeing him in the library and he wasn't in the Science Hall labs or in the greenhouse. Hiei considered and then decided against and then reconsidered going back to the dorms and checking for him in his room. Of all the possible places, his dorm room was the least likely place he would be but he had already checked all the other likely places. He still wasn't entirely convinced it was a good place to check as he stood outside Minamino's closed door. He could hear someone inside but it was far more likely his roommate rather than Minamino himself. But there was still a chance it was Minamino.

Reluctantly and with a second or two of hesitation, Hiei knocked on Minamino's door.

"Minamino is not here," Kaitou replied loud enough to hear through the shut door. His voice remained measured but there was a noticeable edge of irritation to it. Seemed like Hiei wasn't the only one searching for silence amidst a seemingly-endless stream of distraction and aggravation and while Hiei liked Minamino's roommate about as much as he liked any other Academy student, he could still sympathize a bit, if he cared enough to.

Since Minamino wasn't there, Hiei headed off. At first, he thought about easing his frustration and avoiding students by running in the woods but his stomach and the clock in the dorm's main lobby simultaneously informed him it was dinnertime. And Hiei almost made the stupid decision of going to the dining hall until he realized that there would be other students there, all wanting to talk and tell him how great he was en masse. Hiei wouldn't actually get to eat. Hiei wasn't even sure he'd be in the cafeteria long enough to eat, especially after campus security dragged him off when he finally knifed a student in the stomach after approaching him.

Deciding against earning a potential charge of attempted murder (or some form of it), Hiei hurried off toward the woods.

Hiei didn't come back to the dorms until it was night and only the campus lights could guide him back. His run had done nothing for his stomach but he did recover some sort of balance—at least, he wasn't ready to kill the next student that approached him. Knowing the cafeteria was closed and not knowing where Kuwabara's wallet was at the moment, Hiei headed to the dorm kitchen to see what was in the fridge.

Wondering if the other students had finally caught on to the presence of a thief, Hiei frowned at the complete lack of sweets in the fridge. There were some groceries inside for a planned meal that Hiei didn't know how to make and was too lazy to make even if he did and there were some half-eaten leftovers and takeout but Hiei refused to eat a student's disgusting scraps.

There was, however, one good smell wafting around the kitchen. It was coming from a small pot on the stove. Hiei had heard of some students that refused to eat in the cafeteria and made their own meals, which accounted for the dorm kitchen's existence in the first place, and occasionally students like Eriko would bake a cake or make something on their own but Hiei had never actually seen anyone using the stove. The fridge and the microwave, yes, but not the stove.

Whatever it was, it did smell really good. Finding something he could use as an oven mitt, Hiei removed the lid and peeked through the cloud of steam. It was some sort of bubbling noodles absorbing a kind of teriyaki sauce with finely-sliced carrots, cabbage, and other greens. He wasn't sure if it was homemade but it definitely smelled good and Hiei was hungry. He wondered if any of those paper plates from last week were still around…

"No desserts in the fridge?" he heard Minamino say. "Or have you decided to broaden the scope of your thievery alongside your diet?"

Though he tried not to show he had startled him, Hiei still closed the pot lid back down with a clamor. Somehow, Minamino had managed to sneak into the kitchen without him noticing him out of the corner of his eye and surely he would have seen his bright red hair against the white kitchen…

Hiei did not respond and merely stepped away from the stove as Minamino took his spot, lifted the lid once more, and stirred the noodles. His noodles, apparently.

"You know, there are two servings here," Minamino said as he turned the burner off. "I would not mind to share if you would like some."

Hiei's head was turned away to the side and he was frowning obstinately but before he could shoot down Minamino's offer, his empty stomach loudly and readily accepted the free meal. Of course, Hiei still could have said no and wanted to but Minamino was smiling in that irritating, all-knowing way of his so Hiei knew there was no point in saying no because Minamino knew otherwise.

Minamino found the paper plates and plastic forks tossed up onto the top cabinet—which Hiei wouldn't have found on his own without the assistance of a chair—and portioned out the thick, saucy noodles between two plates. As Hiei walked the two plates into the adjacent study room and Minamino quickly washed his few dishes, the electricity suddenly cut out. The thumps and angry protests of students could be heard through the thin walls. It was remarkable how much sound could be heard in the electricity-absent silence.

"Given the lack of harsh weather in this evening's forecast, I would speculate either a fallen tree or vehicle veering off and striking a pole," Minamino said, entering the small study room after finishing up his washing. "It may be a campus incident or we may be a part of a widespread blackout. Either way, teachers will come by in the morning to wake us up if power is not restored in time. Fair warning, Iwamoto uses an air horn and lock your door if you don't want him dumping a bucket of ice water on you and your bed."

Trying his best to not growl his next words as he twisted his face in displeasure and bristled at the prospect of Iwamoto waking him up in the morning, Hiei grumbled, "Don't they have generators?"

"Yes, but everywhere else than in the dormitories. The Academy will permit our rooms to remain dark but they will not tolerate a missed school day," Minamino said. "The Science Hall will be heavily occupied tonight. I believe I will have to forego my lab research for safety's sake. Fortunately, I am at a stage in which I can allow for this delay."

The study room was small and dark, especially since it did not have any windows. Hiei had been standing by the table when the power went out and remained there but Minamino hadn't moved away from the kitchen doorway since he walked in.

"This is hardly dinnertime atmosphere. Let me get something that will improve our surroundings," he said and left with Hiei quirking an eyebrow at his words and not entirely sure what he had meant.

Minamino came back holding a flickering candle in his hand. As he set it in the center of the table, Hiei noticed it wasn't actually a real candle—he had heard something about candles in the dorms being prohibited as a fire hazard—but an artificial light that mimicked candlelight.

Hiei wasn't sure if the light actually helped matters. Sure, he could see his plate and find his way to the door now but if anyone came in through that door and saw the candlelight, the two plates, and Minamino and Hiei sitting across from one another at the table…things could be misconstrued. After all, there was food and candlelight but this wasn't that, even though it kind of was but it wasn't. It just looked like something else but it wasn't. They were eating, or they were going to, and the electricity was out and nothing more.

Though he wanted to shovel in his bites, Hiei picked at his noodles at first. They were good, a bit salty but that was expected for something instant. It was hot, tasty, free, and in his stomach so Hiei couldn't find much complaint.

Hiei wished he had found something to complain about. It would've been better than sitting in silence as he and Minamino ate. Of course, he couldn't speak for Minamino, but the silence felt awkward and Hiei's stomach tossed between ravenous hunger and fluttering in uncertainty. More than once, his stare flitted over to the door and he wondered whether anyone would come in. To seemingly make matters worse, Minamino was not easing matters by not striking up some sort of small talk like he usually did.

Then again, Minamino didn't seem uncomfortable at all in their silence. He seemed no different that he was at any other of their meals. Hiei wasn't exactly used to him sitting across from him though. He was used to Minamino sitting beside him, used to sneaking glances over at him to gauge his expression, not being face to face and potentially more likely to get caught looking directly up at him rather than furtively to the side. This was different. This made Hiei uncomfortable, more impatient.

Hiei wasn't sure exactly how long their silence had been or even if it had grown awkward between them. All he knew was that the quiet had to end.

"Do you know how to cook?" Hiei said and almost instantly regretted asking such a stupid question. He hadn't even liked the way he had said it.

Minamino's soft smile grew just a hair. No doubt he had found amusement in Hiei's clumsy attempt at making conversation. "I can follow package directions," he said. "Otherwise, aside from a few holiday treats, I only understand the science of cooking."

Hiei's interest was raised. "What do you make?"

"Doughnuts mostly. I find the process of frying dough not too complex or challenging to my relative lack of cooking skills and they are comparatively quick to make and require few ingredients. While honing the proper frying technique did require a few attempts, I do believe the overall recipe is mostly idiot-proof."

"Let Yusuke and Kuwabara try," Hiei said, smirking as he loaded up a plastic forkful of noodles. "They'll find a way to prove you wrong."

Now that they were talking, Hiei felt less ill at ease and his stomach seemed to settle, though that might have been due to the larger bites he was taking.

"Perhaps," Minamino said, his smile gaining a hint of a smirk. "However, I doubt they could outmatch the wreckage someone left in the cafeteria kitchen last night. I heard they had to chip away the brown sludge with a jackhammer. Breakfast was nothing but cold cereal and fruit this morning due to the cleanup."

"I'm glad I'm not tasting your first attempts then," Hiei said wryly.

"Oh, I heard there were a lot of baking ingredients strewn about," Minamino said, faintly laughing. "Besides, I can manage packaged meals."

There was something in the way he smiled, the way he laughed that drew Hiei's attention. He wasn't sure why. There was nothing different. It just… He had just noticed something. But whatever that was, Hiei shrugged it off and focused back on his plate.

"Dinner must have been lacking if you are still this hungry," Minamino said, still smiling, as the fake candlelight flickered in his green eyes.

"I didn't go to dinner," Hiei said, looking up and then canting his stare quickly back down. The fluttering started again in his stomach. Actually, there seemed to be a knot rolling around inside him with his eaten noodles.

"Oh?" Minamino said, tipping his head slightly to the side in show of curiosity. "Why not?"

Noticing the way his side tails—which was the best name Hiei could come up with for the two sections of hair that framed his face, having never given a damn about it or what it was called before—moved as he tilted his head, Hiei wondered if that was always how his hair moved or at least was how it looked when it moved.

Of course, it was, he realized. It wasn't like it could move any other way—but his hair did seem to curl upward wherever it pleased. Minamino in secret probably wrapped the hair around his finger to get it to curl upward. Probably had to do it several times a day, twisting it, twirling it, fiddling with it. And with the way Minamino strived for perfection, Minamino probably ran his fingers a lot through his hair…

It was several seconds before Hiei remembered Minamino had asked him why he didn't go to dinner. Rushing for an answer, he looked down in embarrassment and quickly said, "I needed to be alone," and then realized, "Wait, you didn't go either?"

"No, I did not," Minamino said, busying his hands by idly shifting his fork through the remainder of his noodles. "I was occupied all afternoon in Father Takenaka's office. Apparently, I won an award."

The candlelight reflected against his fingernails, neat and clean and impossibly manicured. Hiei knew enough that Minamino never left the campus to get his nails done and he doubted any girl on campus could get his nails to suit his standards. More than likely, they grew naturally perfect, to no surprise.

"Because it's not enough that we all know you're the smartest, now you get a medal or some trophy as physical evidence of your mental superiority," Hiei said, stare drawn to the movement of Minamino's hand. What Hiei had never noticed before, as Minamino continued to fluidly circle his fork around his plate in inattentiveness, was how slender his hands were. They were very…elegant was the best word Hiei could think of. His hands were elegant in the way they looked, the way they moved, the way they held a fork…

"Actually, I do not think this award comes with any concrete recognition," Minamino said. "However, if it does, I will assure you any gold you might see is purely iron pyrite."

"If you didn't want it, why did you apply for it?" Hiei wished he had something to drink as well. The noodles suddenly felt as if they were sticking in his throat.

"I did not," Minamino said, pulling away a stray curl of hair rubbing his cheek with the brush of his thumb. "Father Akashi decided he would submit it for me in my stead. Generous of him, was it not?"

"Desperate is more like it," Hiei snorted derisively, earning another smile and soft laughter from Minamino.

It was then, amidst the flickering light and shadow dancing across his fair face, caught and shining in his too green eyes, curving and sliding around the corners of his upturned lips, wrapped around his slender hands and blanketed in his, no doubt, soft vibrant red hair, that Hiei Jaganshi finally saw what the entire student body of Sacred Heart Academy had recognized straight away from their first sight of him—that Kurama Minamino was attractive. _Really_ attractive.

…Not that Hiei thought Minamino was attractive. It wasn't like that at all. He had just finally seen what the Academy saw in Minamino, what drew the entire student body, especially the girls, to him.

"It sounds like neither one of us had a particularly pleasant afternoon," Minamino said, amusement in his eyes and expression. "I suppose your victory was highlight of the day, would you agree?"

"Not really," Hiei said to his plate as a heavy weight built in his chest. "All the good that did was bring the Academy's hordes on me."

Minamino was pretty and that was it. Hiei was just stating a fact. It wasn't even subjective. It was an honest fact. Just like the Earth was round and in 1688, the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England brought an end to the warfare between the English and the Dutch, Minamino was attractive. Facts.

"Then if nothing else…" Minamino said. "Dinner was palatable."

Hiei grunted in agreement.

Not long after, as the pressure in his chest grew too unbearable and began to beat, Hiei lied and said he should probably take a shower, mentioning something about his run before dinner. He wasn't positive Minamino believed him and Hiei didn't care. He just wanted to leave so he did as quick as he could.

Heading down the hall to his dorm room, Hiei unlocked his door and thankfully, found a dark, empty room. Whether the oaf was roaming around the blacked-out campus, Hiei neither knew nor cared. He rather preferred him gone. It was a lot less irritation if he was gone and right now, Hiei didn't need to be any more bothered.

Nothing else he could do and nowhere else he could go to be alone, Hiei tossed his shirt and jeans on the floor and crawled under his covers, pulling them tightly over his head. How ever early it was—some time around eight, maybe, nine at night—Hiei didn't care. He just wanted the day to end. Sleeping would not have been his first choice but if he could get his thoughts to shut up, fine, he would go to sleep.

Because just because Hiei realized Minamino was attractive didn't mean he thought he was attractive. And, of course, Hiei didn't think Minamino was attractive because that would have implied he was attracted to Minamino and he wasn't. He could see he was attractive and why others thought he was attractive but he wasn't attracted to him. Hiei didn't have those kind of feelings. For anyone. Especially Minamino. He just…didn't.

Never once was he ever attracted to anyone and it wasn't like he was ever going to start or wanted to. And, for some ridiculous amusement of God or whatever, if he were capable of having such feelings, he damn sure wouldn't fall for perfect, pretty, know-it-all Kurama Minamino. But he didn't have those feelings and he wasn't attracted to Minamino so there.

Minamino was pretty.

And just because Hiei saw he was pretty didn't mean a thing.

-o-

Hiei dreamed.

The pliers held tight and the man wiggled and twisted Hiei's recently-loosened baby tooth in his mouth as Hiei tried not to whimper to stave off more beatings and blood filled his mouth. The man cursed and jerked the pliers harder as his tooth struggled to cling to its cavity. Slowly, Hiei felt the tooth rip away from his flesh, one layer of pain stacking on another, until the tooth fell out and all that remained after the short burst of pain was the bleeding, throbbing place in the back of his mouth.

"Another baby tooth…" The man grinned as he held up the tiny, bloody tooth in front of him. "Little Hiei's growing up. Soon, you'll have all your permanent, big boy teeth. Unless that was one… Oh well." The tooth clanged against the metal pan.

Hiei lay naked, shivering, and bound against a freezing metal table as the man stuffed what Hiei first thought were marshmallows in his mouth but were nothing more than cotton balls to soak up the blood.

"You didn't think I could get it, did you?" He heard the man say but could not see him at the moment with the bright, hot surgical light blinding his eyes. "The human body is remarkably resilient but it does have its limits. Take the human ear…"

Hiei shuddered as he felt the man's fingertips brush along the curve of his right ear. His stomach dropped as his body protested violently against the man's touch. His every nerve ordered his body to run, go, and he bucked hard with what little strength and will he had against his bindings but his restraints stayed.

"Do you want to know how much torque is required to rip a human ear clean off?" the man asked and Hiei bit down hard on the cotton balls in his mouth and shook and waited for the inevitable as the man gently folded over his ear.

"It's a lot less than you think," the man said, snickering, as he let go of his ear and pushed the surgical light off to the side and stood up. The man didn't go far. He sat down in a nearby folding chair, grabbed his clipboard laying on his table of instruments, and wrote down some notes.

At least once a week, if not more, but at least once a week, the man would come down and strap Hiei to what he would later find out was called a gurney and examine him or experiment on him or 'tested the limitations of Hiei's body' as he often generically referred to the days he flat-out hurt him. This time was just what the man called a 'routine checkup', which mostly consisted of about five seconds of actual checking up on him and the rest was just more 'testing Hiei's limits'.

Hiei would have rather been put in the Box.

He didn't like the man's 'routine checkups'. He didn't like the man's hands touching, poking, prodding his every tender bruise, running along his every open cut, pressing his inflamed wounds. Touch equaled pain, old and new. More often than not, if the man put his hands on him, he was going to hurt him.

Muttering something about the redness of Hiei's backside, the man unbound one of his leg restraints and even though he didn't have the strength to kick or flail his legs if both of them were freed, the man still tied his legs together before loosening his other. And then lifting his legs up by the ankles, he examined his rear.

Hiei didn't know what he was seeing but he knew how his bottom felt—he hadn't been able to sit or put the slightest pressure on it for weeks. It was sore and scraped and no doubt sitting in his own filth hadn't helped matters.

The man grimaced at what he saw. "Fucking infection," he said, putting Hiei back down, and walked over to one of several standing cabinets.

Nothing good ever came from one of those cabinets.

The man came back with a semi-transparent plastic bottle filled with some kind of clear liquid. Hiei didn't know what it was but he soon did as the man raised him back up by the ankles with one hand and splashed the liquid over his rear end and private parts. Though the smell confirmed it, the all-consuming, searing pain told him it was straight rubbing alcohol. Even if it meant more beatings later, Hiei couldn't help but scream, the sound muffled by the many cotton balls gagging his voice.

"Crybaby…" the man sneered. "The burn means it's working."

Too weak to struggle, Hiei lay in pain as the alcohol burned and ate away at his raw, inflamed skin and the man rebound his legs to the gurney.

"You know…" the man said with curiosity in his voice as he set the bottle of rubbing alcohol on his table of instruments and picked up a small scalpel. "You're awfully small for a boy your age…"

The man should have known it was his lack of food and frequent hours left twisted up in the Box that left Hiei small for his age but either the man did not care or simply wished to find different answer altogether that brought him and the scalpel and the surgical light back over onto Hiei.

"I better do a thorough checkup and make sure everything's all right with you on the _inside_ ," the man said, the surgical light casting a halo around his head, as he pressed the scalpel into his lower leg and cut a line straight down.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank adripants, Zapps, jessica, and AussieKat for commenting on the last chapter and I'd like to thank all the readers that gave kudos since the last chapter as well.
> 
> I apologize for the delay, which included a laptop issue. The laptop I write on is still kicking but my battery is really messed up. Luckily, everything is backed on a flash drive so worst comes to worst, I won't actually lose much. It's still a bit of a pain and an inconvenience at times but I can't say my laptop isn't a fighter.
> 
> Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure school festivals in Japan don't happen in July but if I happen to be wrong (and I'm assured I am), let's just run with it because that little detail messes up an otherwise full-formed chapter, 'kay? Also, Hiei is a paranoid twat. …Yea, I want to kick him too. As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: If I owned the rights to YYH, I wouldn't be working in retail.

-o-

Chapter Seventeen: Festivals and Masks

-o

Half past midnight and in the laboratory, Hiei sat on a tall stool with his head resting on the workstation countertop and idly watched Minamino experiment on the lab mice. He watched him jot a few notes down and remove a mouse from the many gathered into two cages. He tightened a small numbered tag around its back foot and then placed a tiny bolt gun to its temple and zapped it. He then injected the dead mouse with one of two chemicals he had been working on. Hiei didn't know what the solutions were or what they were for and he didn't really care. He did want to get a closer look at that mini bolt gun though.

The bolt gun was really more of a pen that delivered an adjustable level of voltage in a single click. Hiei wasn't sure if the Academy furnished those potential lawsuit-inducing mini zappers for laboratory use or if Minamino had invented it himself—the latter wouldn't have surprised Hiei. He rather hoped it was the Academy's property, since that assured there was at least more than one and Hiei was interested in seeing how high its voltage went and whether or not it was capable of doing more than cleanly and instantaneously kill mice.

He thought about asking Minamino to let him see the bolt gun when he was done but he doubted Minamino would hand it over—part of the paperwork he no doubt had to sign probably detailed in bold capital letters that he was responsible for and could not under any circumstances let someone else have it. That and even without the Academy's rules binding him, Minamino wouldn't have handed it over for some stupid 'moral integrity' and 'concern for the well-being of the student body and Iwamoto'.

Bored and hungry, he rummaged through his pockets for a snack and found one folded over wrapper with half a vanilla sandwich cookie left. It wasn't what he wanted—what he wanted was the fresh, warm glazed doughnuts he kept smelling in the air and wasn't simply imagining, despite what Yusuke said. But unless he found whoever was wandering the campus with fresh doughnuts, he would settle for a couple candy bars from the vending machine. Unfortunately, the nearest machine had nothing but a dated pack of chewing gun.

So Hiei sat and watched Minamino pull mice out of a cage, put a bolt in their head, and inject them with chemicals in the name of science. Briefly, the thought to ask Minamino what the hell he was doing popped into Hiei's mind but knowing Minamino, he would've already told him what he was doing if he had wanted him to know. Since he hadn't, Minamino would most likely offer him the most obvious explanation and skirt around any details and questioning until Hiei finally gave up. The whole exchange required a lot of work, a lot of talking, and a headache was all Hiei was going to get for asking. Hiei decided to skip all that and pretend to not give a damn.

Minamino wasn't taking a break from his experiment anytime soon and focused solely on his work, so Hiei watched and waited. Eventually, his eyes were drawn to the cage filled with scurrying, tumbling, squeaking mice. Hiei watched them and wondered if any of them had a clue of their fate to come when one of the larger, fluffier mice caught Hiei's eye. Hopping off the stool, he stepped over and stared into the cage.

"Do you need all of them?" Hiei said, watching one of the mice meticulously clean its face and listened to it squeak incessantly.

"Not in particular," Minamino said. "Just enough to have an adequate test pool."

Hiei continued to watch the pudgy mouse wash its pink paws over its face. He looked at it and then watched Minamino remove another mouse and then looked back at Minamino the mouse as it scratched its ear. The light of the bolt gun flashing off another jolt sparked in the corner of his eye. Hiei opened the cage door and scooped Minamino the mouse up.

"Not this one," Hiei said, meeting Minamino's interested gaze for a brief moment before looking away in embarrassment. He winced at the pinpricks of pain as Minamino the mouse ran up his arm and perched on his shoulder. "I know him."

"Her, actually." His smile was much too amused as he quickly jotted down a note.

Hiei refused to look back at him, deciding he didn't have to watch Minamino smile for his own stupid reasons locked in that perfect brain of his, and then Hiei felt the tickle and then the warning bolts of Minamino the mouse's whiskers on his neck. Grabbing the half of cookie left in his pocket, he occupied her curiosity with the universal distraction of food.

"Well, that explains the mystery. Other students, including myself, were under the impression her sudden weight gain was due to an accidental pregnancy." Minamino actually paused from his work, even turned away from the countertop and faced Hiei. Maybe it was time for a break, but he didn't have to choose this very moment to step away. "…But now I see she simply has a friend who has allowed her too many sweets."

Minamino the boy took far too much time observing Minamino the mouse nibble on her cookie on Hiei's shoulder. The way he softly smiled as he calmly watched did not help matters. Hiei looked away again, not in embarrassment as Minamino would think but to get away from watching him smile in inane delight at something so stupid and simple.

"Have you given her a name?" Minamino asked.

"Don't be stupid," Hiei grumbled and glared at him as the pudgy mouse tried to sit on her hind legs and munch on her cookie but couldn't quite find her balance on Hiei's shoulder and tipped too forward. Catching her quickly, Hiei put her in his shirt pocket where she could stand and eat safely if she wished.

Of course, she had a name but it would be a hot day at the North Pole in winter before Hiei would ever tell Minamino what that name was.

-o-

For weeks, Hiei heard whispers and excited squeals in the halls as the first week of July drew closer and closer. Not giving a damn about some stupid Academy event, Hiei never asked Minamino or anyone else for that matter what the big deal was. It was only when he found out it was mandatory for all students to provide at least ten hours of documented voluntary participation did Hiei decide it was time Minamino got explaining what the rising fuss was about.

Apparently, the first week of July was spent planning, volunteering, organizing, building, practicing, and decorating for Sacred Heart Academy's annual school festival at the end of the week. It was a busy, exciting change of pace where all the Academy's rich snobs could pretend to do real work for once, pompously show off their greatness in front of their neighboring public schools, and dupe prospective students and their well-to-do parents into enrolling in Sacred Heart.

Hiei supposed it was better the Academy did their festival in July rather than in the fall like most schools since it meant it would be over and done with now rather than later but he also found it proof of their projected over-inflated self-importance that Sacred Heart ignored the standard and did whatever they wanted. Then again, being a private, Western-influenced school probably did allot some leeway in their scheduling.

After his track practice and a quick shower, Hiei and Minamino ran into Yusuke and Kuwabara and since Minamino was a school festival officer—he wasn't assigned to represent a specific class, rather he was one of a handful of general officers assigned by the student council, Minamino saw fit to remind them that they had to volunteer their services for the festival. While Yusuke groaned and tried to pointlessly convince Minamino that they would volunteer later, Hiei eyed the vending machine.

"Come on, it's Tuesday. Why are you on our ass already?" Yusuke whined. "We still have plenty of time."

"It is mandatory for all students to document ten hours of service," Minamino replied, unbothered and absolutely reasonable. "It is better to chisel away at your time rather than procrastinate and force yourselves to acquire your hours all at once working at the festival, would you not agree?"

Calculations made, Hiei heard Yusuke groan behind him. Hiei didn't like being forced to volunteer any more than Yusuke did but he had to begrudgingly admit that Minamino had a point.

"You have to have money for those, y'know that, squirt?" Kuwabara said, standing beside Yusuke and so far kept out of helping Yusuke complain, most likely because he actually didn't mind volunteering but didn't take Minamino's side just to keep from hearing Yusuke bitch.

Of course, Hiei knew the vending machine needed money. He just didn't need any. Punching the glass and sending the machine wobbling in its spot, Hiei watched as two candy bars, a bag of M&Ms, and a strawberry-cheese danish fell out of their rings as the machine settled. Wasn't his best haul, but at least he avoided the chocolate-less pretzels and some really fishy shrimp-flavored chips.

"That explains why the machines are constantly being restocked," Yusuke said, cocking an eyebrow in both surprise and respect. "How the hell did you do that?"

"The answer is very simple, Yusuke," Minamino said, as Hiei stopped and stood by him, stuffing pastry into his face as soon as the danish wrapper popped open.

"I don't really want a lesson on energy and force of impact, Kurama."

"No, it is not that," Minamino said, overlooking Yusuke's use of his first name apparently. "The machine simply knows better."

Hiei didn't think Minamino was not exactly wrong—of course, Minamino was never wrong—but Hiei's face was too absorbed in pastry to fire back a better reply.

Begrudgingly, the trio followed Minamino's lead around the campus as he pointed out various projects put in by various classrooms. Since the gym was already claimed for a school dance, the student council decided the haunted house would have to be built in the Science Hall. If they could bring people down to the basement labs, Hiei didn't think it would be entirely boring.

Hammers banging and walls raised, little stalls and buildings were popping up around campus. There were plans for a crepe stand, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and yakitori vendors to start. Minamino said there were plans for a tea ceremony, carnival games, a cosplay contest, a maid and butler café, and various exhibitions from the wrestling team, judo club, archery club, kendo club, and the like.

"Anything strike your interest?" Minamino asked. "I know that we need builders and decorators for the bazaar and for the talent show stage. We have also had few volunteers to assist the Academy Beautification Committee with cleaning up the campus and decorating the school."

"Wow, I'm really shocked," Yusuke grumbled wryly. "Who wouldn't want to jump right on laying mulch, planting flowers, hanging ribbons, and sweeping the sidewalks with the neat freak squad?"

"Aren't you on the Beautification Committee?" Kuwabara asked Minamino.

"I was in my first year. I was forced to step away in my second but I remain an honorary member and assist whenever I can."

Yusuke blew a derisive snort of air. "Walking around doesn't let you say you're on the Beautification Committee, Kura—"

" _Yusuke!_ " He jumped at the sudden sound of Keiko's shriek. She marched straight for him, her eyes locked on him and sharp. "You better talk to your roommate! There's _no way_ the student council will agree to Reiji's Romeo and Juliet in space."

"Why not? You loved that one with the dude from the sinking ship."

"Props are building Gundams, suddenly we have samurai and orc armies," Keiko said, outraged and disgusted, "…and have you _seen_ Juliet's costume?"

"Yeah, Reiji's a freaking genius," Yusuke said, grinning. "There's no way we won't sell out."

"I'd go to that," Kuwabara said and bumped fists with Yusuke.

"We are not—" she paused, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself. "Tell Reiji to make things right or there won't be a play!"

"One less crappy high school play of Romeo and Juliet," Yusuke said flatly. "How will we cope—ow, ow!"

Keiko dragged him off by his ear. "You're going to fix this, Yusuke! And then you're going to build backdrops. And then—"

As Keiko's list continued on and on long after her raised voice faded out of hearing, it was quite obvious that Yusuke had plenty of volunteering to do. Unfortunately, that left one man down to fight off Minamino's attempts to draft them to a project—and then as Hiei saw Kuwabara walk off with Botan toward the haunted house, he realized it was just him now.

Since it was still early in the week, there weren't too many events ready to be set up yet. A lot of projects were still in the planning, organizing, and gathering materials stage and wouldn't be set up until later. Hiei didn't have any money and didn't give a damn so unless he jumped on one of the few builds in progress, his hours would have to wait.

Minamino still tried to cultivate his interest in a project, whether in one he would work on now or later, as they walked around campus. Hiei wasn't sure what a school festival officer, especially one not assigned to a class, was supposed to do but he was pretty sure they weren't supposed to do as much work as Minamino was. Classmates ran up to him, said their hellos and maybe chatted a bit before they ultimately dropped their workload on him, asking favor after favor.

And Minamino would say yes. He always said yes. At every project Minamino checked in on, someone would ask Minamino to do something and his answer never changed. His frown, however, when he turned away from view would deepen ever so more. Of course, even if his classmates ever noticed, they would never see it as a frown. It was more of a subtle tightening in his jaw, noticeable only if someone knew to look for it. Not that Hiei was looking… It was just something he had happened to observe after awhile and couldn't make himself not know it was there.

Minamino was quiet as they headed over to the dining hall after he documented his volunteer hours with Sister Genkai. While Hiei didn't hate the silence, he also knew something wasn't right. He wasn't going to ask Minamino—he did, after all, enjoy the silence and there was a good chance Minamino wouldn't tell him the whole truth anyway—but Hiei did try to figure out the problem just by glancing over and reading what cues he picked up.

And to no real surprise, Minamino was deep in thought. It was no wonder. After toppling on six different favors on top of everything else he did, Minamino probably did have to rearrange his schedule yet again. What Hiei couldn't understand was why he said yes to everything if it only ticked him off a little more each time.

"Hey, Minamino, could I ask a favor?" asked a girl, stopping Minamino and Hiei just inside the dining hall and within sight of the cafeteria doors. "Could you convince the student council to up the café's budget by 15,000 yen?"

"No one can fork over half a day's worth of their weekly allowance," Hiei grumbled not at all under his breath. "Cheap snobs."

"The student council has balanced the budget appropriately," Minamino said. "I do not believe there is anything left beyond the meager emergency fund." As he turned away and toward the cafeteria, the girl grabbed the crook of his arm and stopped him.

"Mida won't try and I know I can't convince them and you're friends with a lot of the council. _Please…_ " she begged and then as an idea hit her, her face perked up. "I know! Talk to Misaki. She really, really likes you and I'm sure she'll say yes or help you sway the others."

Whether the girl saw or not the tiredness in Minamino's eyes, it mattered not. Breathing a weary sigh, Minamino put on a soft smile and said, "I'll see what I can do…"

And the perky, smiling girl bounced away in happiness. Hiei didn't even recall if she had said thank you or not. He was too busy watching Minamino's jaw tighten and his eyes subtly sharpen, no doubt displeased to have to rearrange his schedule _yet again_.

Fed up with watching Minamino lay himself on the Academy's cross, Hiei took hold of Minamino's sleeve, just the sleeve, and dragged him into the small faculty dining room a few steps away before Minamino could protest. It was normally locked but the door had been accidentally left open from this morning's breakfast meeting. The room surrounded in glass walls was dimly lit in fading evening sunlight and was made soundproof, no doubt so no students could hear what their teachers were discussing.

"Hiei? What is the matter?" Minamino asked as Hiei shut and locked the door behind them.

"You already promised to decorate the gym for the dance, help supervise the auditions for the talent show, and organize the food stalls for optimum sales." Hiei stood guard in front of the door, his glare promising he would strike Minamino if he tried to force him aside. Minamino was going to listen to him and that was that. "And now you just stupidly agreed to help another moron too incompetent to do their job."

"What was I supposed to do?" Minamino said. There was a strange brusque edge lining his voice.

"Say no," Hiei said. "Y'know, the one word you don't know."

Minamino laughed softly, smoothing out the slight harshness in his voice. "I am touched by your concern but it is nothing I cannot manage."

Concerned? Hiei wasn't concerned. He just wanted to point out what an idiot Minamino was. "Your face says otherwise," Hiei said, deepening his frown. "If they piss you off so much, tell them no."

Minamino said quietly, "I cannot."

"You lie better than that," Hiei scoffed in disbelief. "Then why won't you say no?"

The slightest tip of his head downward in the fading sunlight cast shadows over his vibrant green eyes. "It is…what I have always done. This is the pattern I established in my first year and I cannot divert from their fixed expectation."

"Fixed expectation?" Hiei sharply raised an eyebrow in confusion. "The hell do you mean by that?" Minamino did not reply. " _Answer me._ "

Hiei watched as Minamino, his silence proof of his discomfort, calculated and weighed his options. Saying nothing let him stall time and plan his escape but the door was locked and guarded by Hiei and his one other means of escape would mean running through a glass wall and that would be vandalism and Kurama Minamino did not destroy school property. Originally, Hiei had dragged Minamino into the faculty dining room simply because it was empty and nearby but now he realized there were other benefits. Minamino was in a corner and he could think and calculate but this time he could not evade.

"They're using you," Hiei said, expecting to catch Minamino off guard and spotlight his stupidity.

Minamino wasn't caught off guard. "I know," he said readily. "I acknowledged and anticipated this would be a consequence when I decided to never say no, to be…helpful to my peers. While there is an occasional inconvenience to myself, I find the ends justify the means."

So even if they pissed him off, even if they swarmed on him and piled on so-called favor after favor, Minamino was still going to say yes. Hiei bared his teeth. "You're going to let them use you, run yourself ragged, and bite your tongue and for what? Popularity?" he growled. "You're not a genius. You're an idiot!"

"This is what I have always done," Minamino simply said.

"Fine words from a doormat," Hiei smarted back, unlocking and swinging open the door. He hurried out and rushed through the swinging cafeteria doors. If he wasn't so damn hungry, he would've stormed out of the dining hall altogether. Standing impatiently with his arms over his chest, he still fumed as he waited in line for dinner, subsequently scaring the boy in front of him into standing ramrod straight, his profuse nervous sweating noticeable.

It didn't take long before Minamino was waiting in line right behind him. "It truly bothers you, doesn't it?" Minamino said, smiling. Hiei hated his smile. It was much too amused, too happy. He shouldn't be this happy when he was this pissed at him.

"No," Hiei said tersely, looking away. After all, what Minamino did was his problem and none of his concern. If he wanted to say yes and be at his stupid classmates' bidding just because of some stupid popularity plan he came up with in his first year, fine.

Through the service line and sitting at their usual table, Hiei had not said another word. He stabbed at his spaghetti and wished he had a steak so his fork could murder it and the meat could bleed. Minamino tried to talk to him and change the subject but Hiei just wanted to eat and go. He didn't want to talk to Minamino and it wasn't as if Minamino had time for him anyway, what with all the favors lined up before him.

"Excuse me, Minamino…" a quiet girl asked, bowing politely to him. Hiei could tell by the dull displeasure in Minamino's eyes and the immediate tightening of his jaw that it was yet another classmate asking for a favor. "I'm sorry to disturb you but I was wondering if you would—"

"No!" Hiei snapped, briefly drawing the attention of the rest of their longtable and two neighboring longtables until the students saw it was Hiei and immediately and nervously focused back on their meals. "Whatever it is, find someone else for once!"

Eyes wide, the girl with a face like a deer momentarily froze in fear and then, evidently spooked, ran off like one. Hiei huffed and looked back at his spaghetti and tried to ignore the fact that Minamino's eyes were also wide and staring at him. He seemed…genuinely surprised at Hiei's outburst. Hiei tried to ignore him and growing pink on his own cheeks.

"…Thank you," Minamino said softly. Hiei wasn't sure if he was still genuinely overcome with surprise or simply spoke quietly so his classmates wouldn't overhear him, thus allude to his actual feelings toward his classmates' constant favors—as if the rest of the Academy was smart enough to piece his words with Minamino's and figure that out.

Minamino was looking down lost in thought into the longtable's faux pressed wood and smiled with far too much gentleness and appreciation. He didn't have to act like Hiei had done something extraordinarily nice for him. Really, Hiei had just yelled at that girl just so he could eat dinner in peace.

Hiei breathed a harsh, stubborn snort of air. "For some stupid reason, you won't say no. You'll wind up a martyr," he grumbled and pushed away chunks of gray-brown canned mushrooms out of his sauce, "and three days is too long a wait for you to resurrect."

And, unlike Minamino, Hiei didn't care if he was liked. He didn't pretend to be nice, he didn't put up with favors, and he certainly did not wear a mask.

If there was any point driven into him today, it was that Minamino was fake. He smiled and said yes, even in the face of the most asinine favors. Minamino lied. Minamino said whatever he needed to make people happy and to suit his benefit. Minamino had plans…

A thought came to Hiei. It slipped through him and dropped to the pit of his stomach much like the oil in the tomato sauce coated his mouth and greased his insides.

If Minamino had lied, if he had told him he hadn't chosen to be friends with him for any other reason just to lure him into a plan…

His stomach twisted and churned. He glanced over at Minamino, saw he was still smiling sweetly, and wondered if this too was just an act.

-o-

The rest of the week went by at an accelerated pace and soon there were only twenty-fours hours left before the festival. Most projects were ready or going through final details. The food stalls were testing their cooking skills. The haunted house tested and repaired their mechanics. The stages were built and Reiji was allowed to direct the school play with strict supervision of the student council—time being a factor, they compromised and allowed him to keep Wing Zero as long as Juliet was covered up.

For the first time in his four years at the Academy, Kurama Minamino was actually running around a lot less throughout the festival grounds. It was the first year he was not constantly readjusting his schedule in his head, overtaxing himself physically or mentally as he tried to control the barraging chaos, or found his patience worn thin. This was greatly due to Hiei telling off, well, not so much telling off anymore than glaring at any student that approached him.

Even without Hiei beside him, Kurama saw a sharp decrease in favors. There were even days where his schedule matched any other day before and after the festival. For that, he was truly grateful. He had thanked Hiei once, the first time, after the initial surprise and tide of unforeseen emotion wore off, and of course, Hiei had denied possessing any concern with obstinacy and cold detachment. He could lie his way out with strangers any day but Kurama Minamino was far too well-acquainted with Hiei Jaganshi to be tricked with harsh facades.

Even with Nationals next week, Coach Niigano kindly cancelled their Friday practice just for the festival—this only affected the students that had qualified for Nationals, namely Hiei and another boy and girl. Even so, right after class, Kurama guided his tutorial class out to the festival grounds. While half his class dispersed off to their decided projects, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei still required a bit more escorting around. At least, by Kurama's constant encouragement (or goading, either word was accurate), they were very close to completing their ten hours and none of them would have to work during the festival to meet requirements.

As they walked about, Yusuke and Kuwabara chatted on not so much about things they wanted to volunteer for rather than just the things the festival was offering this year that interested them.

"We've got a beauty pageant but it's supposed to be 'inner' beauty…" Yusuke groaned, kicking an empty energy drink can across the lawn, much to the censure of a nearby glaring Beautification Committee member. "What fun is it if there's no swimsuits?"

"They're still lettin' us do it?" Kuwabara said, eyebrow raised in surprise. "I thought they cut it after you rigged the results so that Minamino won last year."

Regarding last year's festival, Kurama had overheard later in the evening about his apparent victory in the beauty contest. At the time, he had not decided whether to be depressed or insulted at his classmates' lack of outrage and near-total acceptance of his fraudulent win. Only the faculty had spoke out against the switched envelope but gossip later spread that even the teachers thought that, despite not even being a contestant (and more importantly being male), Kurama was still the clear winner that year.

"Guess that's why it's about inner beauty now," Yusuke said, grinning. "Even the girls don't think they can compete with Kurama."

"It is certainly not also the fact that a proper beauty pageant provides an element of sexuality, a rather dangerous ingredient among hormonal, suggestible, close-quartered adolescents," Kurama said, ignoring Yusuke's last comment. "You can recognize the irony and understand why might this be an issue for a Catholic boarding school dedicated to educating and imbuing its students with principles of virtue, modesty, and piety to permit, even seeming to promote the cardinal sin of lust within its sanctity."

"Ladies and gents," Yusuke said, pretending to hold a microphone, and grinned much too wryly. "You've now heard from our reigning queen."

Kurama pursed his lips tightly at that but otherwise did not reply.

Unlike their first escort around the grounds, it didn't take as long for the boys to find a project to lend a hand on—the real surprise was that Hiei had been the first to choose. The makeshift café needed painting and Hiei volunteered, for motives of a self-benefiting nature Kurama had no doubt. He had swiftly deduced a reason as to why Hiei would volunteer for the café, however he decided not to dissuade the overseeing class representative against permitting Hiei to help simply because it was more imperative that Hiei received his ten hours rather than ensure the café would be prepared come tomorrow.

Kuwabara left soon after, his height and long arms needed to decorate, and after stealing a taste of the ramen stand's best try and spitting it out, Yusuke muscled his way behind the counter and promised to beat anyone within an inch of their life if they said he was there willingly or if they stole his recipe.

Going about his responsibilities, Kurama assisted in the final decoration of the school gym, passed along the student council's final revised list of approved music to the students manning the music, assisted in stocking the entrance booth with tickets and activity brochures, and mediated plenty between several classes over location theft, conflicting ideas and visions, and just petty squabbles between incompatible personalities.

As he went from project to project and gathered progress reports for the student council, the time came when he had to visit the café and check in on its volunteers. He found Hiei outside painting the left wall, or well, the lower portion of the wall—the upper half had already been painted and whoever had painted it had clearly hastily moved on. If he surmised correctly, there seemed to be fear in the boy's brushstrokes. Whether he had been afraid of Hiei outright or he had threatened him soon after, he could not tell however.

Kurama stood behind Hiei just close enough for his shadow to alert Hiei of his presence. "Eriko mentioned the cafe was having some trouble."

If he had surprised him, Hiei did not show it. He simply continued coating the wall in white paint. "They can't get you as a butler?"

The fifth-year class that had originally proposed the maid and butler café idea had tried and was still trying to persuade—in other words, begging—him to volunteer to serve as a butler during the festival. They were assured that with him there, the café would be the star attraction of the festival and while Kurama knew that would be true and that there would be lines for miles just from the Academy's student body alone for the café with him there, blue roses would sprout through the snow on the surface of the sun before he subjected himself to such service.

"Well, yes," Kurama agreed. "However, Eriko is stationed in the bakery and she says someone has been stealing cakes all week." A small and rather sly smile stretched across his lips. "Have you noticed anything peculiar?"

"They're probably just miscounting," Hiei said. "In any case, it's their problem, not yours. Don't they have to figure it out?"

"True." He tipped his head to the side. "But Eriko did not ask me to help. She only mentioned it in casual conversation."

"Casual? That twit is hardly casual around you."

"Again, true," Kurama said. "I fear every time I must face her, the poor shy girl's misguided affections for me might one day stop her heart."

"Not that you won't lead her along for your own benefit," Hiei said, dipping his brush into a small paint can.

"I would never." Hiei turned and shot him a long, disbelieving stare. "Well, I have no need to. I certainly treat all my students the same. Is it a fault of mine if her one-sided affections in turn cause her to treat me with any special deference?"

Hiei returned to his work. "Oh, you'll get what you want from her but you'll never tell her she hasn't a chance. Just keep her hopes up."

"Blowing things out of proportion, do you think?" His small, sly smile grew into a mildly pleased smirk. "Of course you would when you are trying to deflect from the main topic."

Hiei blew a snort of air. "And why would I do that?"

"You have icing beneath your fingernails."

Hiei's shoulders jumped. "It's paint," he insisted.

"That is frosting," Kurama declared otherwise.

Hiei said nothing. Paintbrush stilled, he remained facing the wall and struggled to come up with a lie Kurama would not see through—there was no chance of that and Hiei knew that too. Problem was he did not want to outright confess. Not like his silence was not proof enough of his guilt.

"How many?" Kurama asked through a sigh.

"I took or ate?" Hiei said, lowering his voice.

"Moot point. After all, you took them to eat them," Kurama said, matching Hiei's hushed tone. The walls weren't exactly thick and there were plenty of available ears walking around them. "Please, answer me. I'm not going to turn you in. I am just curious."

"If you're not going to tell, why does it matter?" Hiei grumbled. He darted his stare away, peered back to see Kurama patiently awaiting his response, and then looked away again. Begrudgingly, he said, "…Five."

If Hiei had only taken five, the bakery definitely had more than one thief. "The cafe is only offering three choices."

"The coconut cake is pretty good," Hiei said, wetting his paintbrush, and focused back on his mandatory volunteer service. "So is the strawberry shortcake."

A girl's voice broke through the thin walls, "I swear I had just finished icing the chocolate and left the room not for a second and it was gone." Footsteps grew louder as the girl and another student, if Kurama's ears heard right, approached.

Yes, he had heard two sets of steps. "More than one person has to be guilty," a boy said, eyes wide in disbelief, as he and the girl walked past them. "One person couldn't be eating all these cakes. It's just...impossible." The boy looked a little sick to his stomach at the thought.

As soon as his perplexed upperclassmen passed by, Kurama looked back at Hiei.

Once again, Hiei averted his stare in guilt. "Six."

"Squirreling them away for winter?" Kurama asked rather cheerfully and held back his laughter as Hiei scowled in return. "No, they are certainly all gone by now."

The numbers still did not quite add up.

"Only six? In a week's time?" He only pretended to be surprised. "I would have estimated and expected much more out of you. You have been rather kind to the bakery team then by only taking six. Or have they bolstered security enough to outwit you and put an end to your theft?"

"…Nine," Hiei growled through his clenched teeth.

Ah, _now_ all the missing cakes were accounted for.

-o-

Of lately, Hiei was wishing he had never met Kurama Minamino. If he had sat somewhere else on his first day, if he had left every time Minamino insisted on sitting with him, if he had just once punched him out… No, he was thinking too recent. If he had done better on the science portion on his scholarship test or, better yet, if he had just failed that test in the first place, Hiei and Minamino never would have met and he wouldn't be up on the Science Hall rooftop wondering if his first and only friend in the world was a lying, manipulative sack of shit.

The festival wouldn't begin for another hour, though the Academy had opened its gates early for prospective parents and students and were occupying and barraging them with persuasive speeches and meetings in the fanciest drawing rooms within the administrative buildings. The Academy's administrative offices provided the perfect visual lie of the illusion of sophistication, illustriousness, and pretentiousness Sacred Heart strived to uphold and used to ensnare fools too gullible and blind to the posturing or too rich to care. No wonder Minamino was their model student.

Now that he had seen how fake Minamino really was, Hiei spent the rest of the week cautiously observing his so-called friend through meals, tutorial class, and around campus. He noticed how much of the time Minamino put on just enough of smile to be agreeing, charming, or pleasant amid his peers. Minamino was well-practiced—he could calculate without pause the exactly amount of emotion he needed to show or speak with at any moment.

The only time he wasn't entirely sure if Minamino wasn't wearing a mask was when it was just the two of them. Hiei wanted to believe he wasn't acting but it also wouldn't be surprising if Minamino knew how to adjust his mask to suit his target just as effortlessly.

_He could be lying,_ Hiei thought, staring up at the blue sky as a massive, slow-moving white cloud blanketed out the sun for the time being. _He could have a plan in waiting and been biding his time, building my trust in the meantime. Minamino is patient, after all. And brilliant. And one crafty, lying son of a bitch._

Except every plan, every reason Hiei came up with didn't make sense. He couldn't figure out why Minamino would lie to him or need to use him. But instead of convincing him of Minamino's honesty, a lack of a reason only proved to Hiei that Minamino was more of a manipulative bastard than he gave him credit for.

Irritated and cross, Hiei stormed off toward the café in hopes of sneaking off with cake number ten. He had snuck by the bakery team before but this time, the maid and butler volunteers were fluttering about and sporadically entered the back bakery without warning. Knowing it was too risky, Hiei cursed underneath his breath and stomped away.

It was a shame Minamino had managed to fend off and, more surprising, that he had actually said no to volunteering as a butler—apparently Minamino's generosity did have its limits. It would have been amusing to see him rushing around tables suited up in butler's uniform, bowtie and tight white gloves included. It would've been interesting to see if he could maintain his ever calm and poise when barraged by an endless stream of giggling, blushing, Cupid-shot girls.

Since he did find the image somewhat amusing, as he made his way through finished stalls and booths back toward the dormitories, Hiei pictured Minamino dressed up, bowing graciously to a table, the café lights casting a golden aura around his shoulders and sparkling through his bright red hair. He imagined him the picture of gentleness and warmth, his much too green eyes bright, and his smile sweet, as he invited him in his smooth, honey tenor…to a serving tray crowded with cakes, parfaits, little fruit tarts, brought him coffee with chocolate, caramel…whipped cream…

"There you are, Hiei," Minamino's actual voice fortunately broke Hiei's imagination immediately. Not that Hiei was thinking of anything embarrassing… Minamino had just caught him off guard was all. "Returning from a run?"

Hiei wanted to glare at him for asking such a stupid question until he realized how hot his face was. And apparently a lot of saliva had pooled in his mouth. Hiei quickly swallowed his breath.

"Yea," he grunted quickly and looked away, following the path of two boys carrying boxes so Minamino wouldn't consider he was looking away out of any…embarrassment or lying and start to speculate on any other possibility. After all, Hiei had just come back from a run.

"It promises to be a lively afternoon," Minamino said, gazing out across the festival grounds. "Every year, the attendance grows, so much so our school festival has become a popularized local event. Normally, visitation to Sacred Heart is by approved appointment only. The festival is one of a few times the Academy welcomes visitors and the locals and our neighboring schools flock to see beyond the iron curtain."

"Because every day is one big costume contest, campus horse-drawn carriage ride, and yakisoba lunch around here," Hiei said sardonically.

"Those are considered a lesson in entrepreneurial endeavors," Minamino said and then looked at Hiei. "I did not see you at breakfast."

"I wasn't hungry," Hiei lied, turning his head away from Minamino's gaze. Promptly, his stomach decided to weigh in on the matter of him skipping breakfast to avoid Minamino with a long, gurgling grumble.

"It seems your appetite has returned," Minamino said cheerfully and smiled. "The festival has not officially begun but I am positive we can locate something amid our many vendors. Shall we?"

Having tried to avoid him as much as possible all week and really not succeeding well at that, Hiei didn't want to follow him or be around him at all, but he was hungry and Minamino was buying so he reluctantly tagged along by him in tow. Doubting he would bring him to the café, Hiei thought he was going to bring him to the yakitori, okonomiyaki, or even to Yusuke at the ramen stand, but no, Minamino brought him over a small crepe stand wedged between a fortune-teller table and a table of student-made pottery.

Hiei didn't know what a crepe was. It looked like a thin, rolled up pancake filled with a sweet crème that could be eaten plain or topped with different berries and fruits, chocolate twists, matcha green tea-infused whipped cream, maple syrup—there were surprisingly a lot of different choices at the little stand.

Minamino ordered each of them a plain crepe. Hiei eyed its making as Minamino and the boy chatted over the boy's late assistant. Since it was like a pancake and Hiei liked pancakes for breakfast and a crepe seemed to be both for breakfast and dessert, Hiei decided he would at least try it.

Wrapping the fresh, warm crepe in wax paper, the boy handed both to Minamino and he handed one to Hiei. He stared at it as he and Minamino traveled up and along the bazaar stalls. After an obligatory sniff, smelling of hot cake and sugar, he decided it wasn't poisonous and bit into it before it cooled. And before he finished his first taste, Hiei already knew he could eat a dozen in a row. He started eying Minamino's as soon as he finished his.

It wasn't that Hiei had wanted to meander around the festival grounds all day with Minamino, watch a few of the clubs perform, comment on the terrible costumes from afar, munch on a few skewers of yakitori, and find out shockingly that Yusuke's ramen was more than edible. No, Hiei was just getting tired of avoiding Minamino (or at least trying to avoid). He decided it was time he stuck by Minamino and finally figured out if he was deceiving him so he could have nothing more to do with him. That was the only reason Hiei stayed with him.

With the Science Hall rooftop impossible to reach without going through that ridiculous haunted house, the next best place to view the fireworks (and the better of the two, Minamino said) was the locked roof of the gymnasium. Slipping inside the gym was easy enough—the school dance would begin after the fireworks and there were a few last minute details being ironed out—and after Hiei raided the snack and refreshment bar, he and Minamino headed up the rooftop stairwell and Minamino opened the always locked door.

On their way to the gym, Minamino had said he had gotten the key from Coach Niigano but Hiei didn't see him draw out a key and Minamino had also stood in front of the door in such a way that blocked Hiei's view. More he thought about it, Hiei had no idea when he would have supposedly asked Niigano for said key.

Standing nearby one another, Hiei watched Minamino carefully as he made idle conversation with him as they stared up at the innumerable twinkling stars on display in the clear, dark night and waited for the fireworks show to start. Even with all his observation throughout the week and all that he already knew about Minamino, Hiei still could not catch a tell. If Minamino wore a mask with him, it was cleverly concealed.

Hiei wondered what to do next. If he couldn't catch Minamino, maybe he had to confront him, corner him into telling the truth. Problem was Minamino was a liar. He circumvented the truth and slipped through confrontation like rainwater between gaps. He was never direct if he could get away with it. And if he ever was direct for once, Hiei wasn't sure if he would believe him, not after all he had observed.

Minamino was fake and Minamino wore masks. He was also Hiei's first and only friend. Or so Hiei thought. Now, he wasn't so sure. The uncertainty was pissing him off.

"The display should begin from that hill," Minamino said, peering off in the general direction with a gentle smile on his face, his face just barely visible from the security light above the doorway. He looked so calm, like nothing was wrong. It made Hiei sick.

"Stop it," Hiei said brusquely. "Stop pretending."

Minamino looked to him and raised both his eyebrows, "I do not understand at all what you mean… Something bothering you?"

"I'm no fool," Hiei said, glaring. "Even Kuwabara can tell you act differently in front of your admirers. You put on a mask and you're doing it with me. It's what you've always done."

"It is nothing more than human nature to do so," Minamino said. "People do not behave the same in front of their superiors as they would among friends and family. Our society is fundamentally structured on these class differences, on distinguishing those who are in and out of one's group. We live in a world of masks. Even you, subtly as it may be, do not treat everyone the same."

So Minamino was trying to justify his masks as perfectly normal… Hiei didn't believe that one bit. No one went to that much trouble to be liked, to be pleasant, to be a martyr. Minamino's masks weren't normal.

"I don't tell people what they want to hear all the time," Hiei shot back. "I don't smile when I want to spit in Iwamoto's face. I don't say yes to everything just to be liked and I don't pretend to care."

Minamino tilted his head down and canted his eyes. "It is unfortunate that I cannot afford to live so forthright."

"I don't care if you want to pretend you're the model student or the next coming of Christ," Hiei shouted. "But you don't _ever_ pull that with me. I'm not one of your admirers and I won't be treated like one."

Minamino widened his eyes briefly in surprise before recovering his calm. "I assure you, Hiei, I admit to playing games, to a trick or two, and the occasional bent truth, all innocuous and sometimes required to open your eyes the actual truth, but I have never once been willfully maliciously disingenuous with you." And then in a much softer voice, he added, "I would not."

As if Hiei could believe him… "I'm warning you," he said, taking a step toward him, his glower and voice cold and sharp. "If this is an act, drop it. And after now if you're still pulling head games or if you're planning something, get the fuck out of my face and don't ever talk to me again. Because I swear if I find out you're trying to use me, if you've lied to me…"

Hiei clenched his teeth tightly, shutting his eyes just as firmly, as he turned his head away and tried to hold down the quiver racing through his jaw and apparently all the way down his arms to his hands. He didn't say what he would do if he caught Minamino lying. He didn't know what he'd do. The thought of Minamino being like _her_ was too much.

Minamino closed his eyes and simply said, "Fair enough."

"I mean it, Minamino," Hiei said, straining to keep his voice from shaking. "Don't fuck with me."

"Kurama," Minamino said without pause and with absolute calm. "You may refer to me by my first name."

Hiei shot him a sidelong glare in uncertainty. "Why?"

"I believe we have been friends long enough to permit such an adjustment," Minamino said, drawing a stray hair away from his eyes as a puff of wind brushed by. "And none of my admirers call me by my first name nor would I allow them."

"You allow Yusuke to call you by your first name and you two aren't close," Hiei said.

"True, however Yusuke uses my first name because he knows it is improper to do so." Minamino said. "I have never corrected him simply because he expects me to and I will continue to overlook the faux pas until he ceases on his own or forgets why he began using my first name in the first place."

"But you're giving me permission…"

"Indeed, I am," Minamino said with pleasure and smiled with equal delight.

Before Hiei could respond, he heard the whistle and whine of the fireworks taking off. White-yellow sparks shot up into the air and burst into fiery chrysanthemums of red, green, and gold. Hiei glanced over at Minamino as a curtain of blue embers shimmered above them.

Maybe Minamino wasn't lying. Maybe at least with him, he didn't wear a mask. Certainly seemed that way from what Hiei had seen. It wasn't like Hiei had been scared at the possibility that Minamino was being fake and lying to him too—he had just wanted to make sure and find out if he was because Hiei wouldn't tolerate being lied to.

The more Hiei thought about it, or at least the more he hoped, as he looked away quickly before Minamino caught him staring, he realized he was probably one of the few people Minamino was ever honest to.

And if he had been wearing a mask, and if he truly wanted to be friends, Minamino wouldn't pretend anymore.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Thanks to all the readers that gave kudos since the last update and thanks to AussieKat, JiraiyaWhitney, and Spiderlace for leaving a comment.
> 
> This chapter is actually a merger of two partially-formed chapters, which moves things along an inch quicker and makes for less filler. For readers wanting a bit more spice, there's perhaps a little of that too. Hopefully, the scene isn't too cliché. 
> 
> Also a little warning concerning some potentially (or definitely) offensive material from Hiei during his conversation with Sister Midori about angels and God. I've made references to Hiei's stance on religion before and he hasn't changed his mind at all. Also we start out with one of Hiei's regular dreams, not a memory, but not a pleasant dream in the least. Incidentally, and rather ironically, the chapter title comes from the first epistle of Peter 2:11.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: Among the list of people that hold the rights to YYH, I'm not one of them.

-o-

Chapter Eighteen: What Wages War Against the Soul

-o-

Hiei dreamed.

He dreamed of desks arranged in a spiral staircase leading higher and higher to a cathedral tower Hiei was not entirely sure he had been before. His steps felt familiar but the angels in the stained glass windows he recalled did not wear grins with serrated bloody teeth.

Nor did he remember the sound of great wings chopping the air, the weight of which shook Hiei, rattled the desks and windows and resonated in the stone walls. The wings circled and sounded like clockwork, their somber, bellowing tolls never ceasing to distress Hiei.

Knowing no better than to continue on, Hiei headed up the desks, pausing only when the reverberations from the great wings dropped him to his knees. The walls were constantly blurry in his line of sight and, despite Hiei knowing them to be made out of stone, the walls were puffy and padded to the touch. Hiei began avoiding looking at the stained glass as more and more bloody-toothed angels began to appear and all that remained of the people begging for their blessings were their severed limbs.

Hiei marched on and on, not knowing if the stairs led anywhere. He had no other choice but to go on since he knew looking back would end everything. As far as Hiei knew, the desks and windows he passed by fell into darkness and the great wings were waiting for him so Hiei carried on up the desks, figuring that wherever they led was better than being lost in the darkness below.

At long last, at the very top, Hiei reached a heavy wooden door. Sliding open the iron bolt lock, he pushed the door open with all his weight and immediately shielded his eyes from the bright white moonlight illuminating the familiar-yet-not-familiar room. Long white diaphanous sheets hung like curtains from the rafters and billowed in an imaginary breeze.

Noticing a shadow of a figure through the sheets, Hiei walked through the layers, the sheets glittering silver in the moonlight as he pulled them aside and stepped by. The floorboards rumbled as the great wings sounded, its roar and rush noticeably closer than ever. His heartbeat quickened, Hiei hurried. The great wings were coming and he had left the door open. But if he reached the figure, if he saved him from this tower, perhaps he would save Hiei from the great wings in turn.

He pulled and smacked aside the fluttering sheets as the wind, an ally of the great wings no doubt, blew the curtains into his face and tried to stall him by wrapping them around him. Finally, after taking much longer to cross the room than he recalled before, he tumbled out of the curtain wall and hit the floor on the other side of the room.

The white light, shining from a giant star-shaped pale blue candy floating in a jar, was less abrasive to his eyes but it was nonetheless bright. He could see just fine and what he saw sitting in a rocking chair beside the star candy light was Minamino. Though he had only seen him from behind, Hiei knew without a doubt it was Minamino—no one else had his hair color and shape.

"What are you doing here?" Hiei shouted, ignoring how strange his voice sounded. "Get up!"

Minamino stayed and he didn't respond. Perhaps he didn't recognize his voice. It seemed warped and drawn out to his own ears.

"It's me," Hiei growled, hurrying over and tugged Minamino by the arm as he continued to ignore him and look nowhere else but forward and out the giant French windows into the void. "Come on—" A gasp bubbled and died in his throat.

Eyes wide, Hiei let go of Minamino's arm immediately. He stood slack-jawed, his mind sending the order to run but his legs were locked in fear. If Minamino had facial features, they were blurred beyond recognition. But as far as Hiei could see right in front of him, Minamino had no face.

Drawn by the movement, Hiei looked down and watched in bizarre entrancement as Minamino nimbly and delicately sewed a tiny bluebird's head back onto its body. A low rumble began to vibrate the room. The great wings pounded against the windows, held locked together tenuously by a thin latch.

Unable to run back down the desks, with no one to turn to, and with the great wings a sliver of metal away, Hiei was trapped. He had to think. There had to be some way to escape and, if need be, to fight. Hiei began to wonder how tightly tampered down the cork sealing the star candy light truly was…

And then he heard the faceless Minamino snap the thread from his needle and Hiei's eyes were once again focused on the bluebird in his hands. The tiny bird made whole again looked about and chirped sweetly.

"Even without your face, you still make miracles," Hiei said, scowling, as Minamino rose from the rocking chair and stepped in front of the locked window. Fear sparked across Hiei's face. "Don't open—"

The latch lifted, the great wings burst through the window and the room shattered.

The floorboards little more than splinters now, Hiei fell into darkness. He looked up and the star candy light was still shining and he saw Minamino, his face restored, Yusuke, Kuwabara, all Minamino's tutorial class, and Father Takenaka hanged from the rafters.

Dropping into the void, Hiei soon realized he was falling beside a glowing white pillar. He suddenly landed in the center of a massive gold pan in which Hiei was no bigger than a grain of rice. He looked around and saw he was on the left side of a set of scales. A blazing heart crowned with thorns and pierced with a sword felt into the right pan and though the heart was just a fraction smaller than the massive pan it set on, Hiei's side sank. His side dropped so suddenly, the chains connecting the pan snapped and Hiei tumbled out of the pan.

Twisting and thrashing in the dark, Hiei managed to right himself long enough to look up and see that the glowing white pillar was not a pillar but the Archangel Michael. Scowling in disgust and glaring down at him with his blank ovoid eyes, he opened his great wings and plunged his sword into the void and split Hiei in two.

-o-

Hiei awoke screaming, though at the time he could only feel the raw hoarseness of his throat. As the mental haze scattered, he recognized the sound of his own scream.

He hadn't intended on falling asleep. After his track practice and with Minamino off-campus representing Sacred Heart at a snooty charity event, Hiei had headed back to the dorms after dinner to wait out the night. He had read a bit, nothing he was actually supposed to read, and he had picked at his homework. Hiei had unfortunately dozed off mid-diagramming sentences for English, which only the teacher seemed to think was greatly important to learning the language.

Wiping the cold sweat off his brow with the back of his arm, Hiei breathed and stared down at the familiar sights of his bed sheets, the worn cover of the library's copy of _Frankenstein_ laying next to him, and then out to the end of his bed where his stack of textbooks tipped precariously off the side.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me!" Kuwabara said, his back plastered to the wall as he held a sharpened pencil out in front of him as he would a knife. "Sounded like someone was getting murdered in here…"

Hiei tried to ignore his idiot roommate but his shrill, gravel voice clawed on his eardrums. It didn't help that Hiei knew from his prickling, crawling shoulders that Kuwabara had shook him awake.

"You okay?" Kuwabara asked, his voice full of idiotic concern, as he lowered his graphite weapon and peeled himself from the wall.

"Don't tell anyone," Hiei ordered, keeping his head turned to the side as Kuwabara continued to stupidly gawk at him.

"Uh, runt, you know I heard you halfway down the hall. I'm pretty sure other people heard you too," Kuwabara replied. "…I'm shocked no one called security."

"If anyone asks, lie. Tell them it was a movie," Hiei said, scooting off the bed and grabbing his running shoes. "Tell anyone the truth and you'll find out what a murder sounds like."

Used to his threats, Kuwabara breathed a bullish snort as he got off his bed with his school briefcase in hand and started laying out his homework on what basically was his desk. "I know you're not gonna listen to me," he said gruffly as Hiei, standing by and facing the door, slipped on his shoes, "but you should talk to someone. You won't talk to me, I get it, but we've got counselors. If no one else, if he's the only one you like, talk to Minamino."

Hiei's eyes widened. "I don't like—" he shouted defensively, his face red. He then decided he didn't have to say anything more and turned slightly and yelled over his shoulder, "Shut up!"

Because Hiei didn't _like_ Kurama Minamino. They were sort of friends. Just sort of friends.

Kuwabara was staring at him seriously puzzled, like he was trying to figure out why he had a chicken on his head and wondered where he got the chicken. It was the kind of deep in thought look only someone who didn't ever think could wear.

"Hiei, you're a messed up bastard," the oaf finally said, shaking his head lightly as he sat down at the desk to study, "but even if you wanna pull this bull, pretend you don't dream and sleep like a baby every night, at least talk this nightmare out with someone. It ain't right to wake up screaming."

As he stormed out of the room and headed for the stairwell, Hiei didn't think it was any of the oaf's business if he woke up screaming. It wasn't like it happened all the time—it had used to after he returned to the orphanage but he had stopped after four months and Hiei had been allowed to sleep with the other kids again. This was his first time at the Academy and before then he had always bolted up in bed in a cold sweat and stared into nothing until he readjusted and reaffirmed his safety. Maybe he couldn't sleep through gunfire and earthquakes like some fools, but he certainly didn't need to talk to anyone about one stupid nightmare.

The side entrance door shut behind him and Hiei hurried along the back way. As soon as he got past the partitioning brick wall, he was going to head for the woods and run until his feet wouldn't carry him. If he landed in his bed or spent the night in a tree, so be it.

A single bright ray of light put a halt to Hiei's plans.

"Hiei, is that you?" Sister Midori asked, flashlight in hand, as she walked along the lit streetlamp-lined sidewalk toward the dorms. "It's quite late. Is it not bedtime soon?"

Hiei remembered vaguely glimpsing over at Kuwabara's clock and recalled a ten being somewhere in the time. His shoulders tensed and he angled his body to the side in discomfort as the sister moved onto the grass and toward him.

"Were you headed for the woods? Now you know that's not allowed," Sister Midori said with a mildly reprimanding tone and smile. Hiei didn't respond. "You must've gotten lost then. Please stay on the lit sidewalk and you'll always know your way."

Hiei supposed getting stopped by Sister Midori was vastly better than getting stopped by Father Iwamoto. She was easier to intimidate and fluster (and she didn't chase after him) but she was smarter than Iwamoto—then again, lots of things were, even Kuwabara. She was a real pain in the ass on the days she had her spine, though, which were getting more and more frequent as the young nun and music teacher built her confidence up and cheered herself on in mirrors. Much to Hiei's irritated huffs, tonight appeared to be one of her confident days.

"Come along," she said, fanning her hand encouragingly. "I'll walk you back to the dorms."

Hiei begrudgingly followed her.

"It's awfully late," Sister Midori said as she and Hiei in tow headed for the main doors.

"I was walking," Hiei said sourly.

"Nothing wrong with that," Midori said cheerfully, "but it is a little strange to walk in the dark."

"It's dark. Doesn't change the road."

"Yes, but most people prefer walking in the day," she said. "Is there perhaps a reason for your walking now?"

"No. Just wanted to walk."

"Why don't we have a chat with Father Takenaka?" Midori suggested as they reached the main entrance.

"I haven't done anything," Hiei snapped back, his glare cutting. "You have no proof."

"No, no, you're not in trouble," Midori said, shaking her head lightly and smiling reassuringly. "We just want to see how you're doing."

Hiei could have bolted but that would've alerted Midori to something being wrong and she would tell Father Takenaka and he would call him over the intercom all day tomorrow until someone finally dragged him to his office or Takenaka tracked him down himself. Much as he didn't want to go with Sister Midori and 'chat' with her and Father Takenaka, going with her and getting it over with would be less aggravating dragging the inevitable out. Hopefully.

Once again, Hiei begrudgingly followed her, this time to the cathedral. All of the mounted lights fashioned in oil lantern-shaped holders were fixed for once and lit the stairway up to the headmaster's office quite well. Hiei stood bored beside Sister Midori as she knocked and knocked again on the headmaster's locked door.

"Oh dear… It seems they have not returned from the charity event yet," Sister Midori said, her eyes apologetic, until she turned toward Hiei and brightened. "You know Minamino is representing us once more? Truth be told, it isn't merely a charity event but also a means for private academies to meet benefactors and obtain contributions. Of course, we haven't really needed any outside assistance since Enma Daioh took interest in our humble institution."

At least with Father Takenaka gone, Sister Midori would probably lead him back to the dorms and if Hiei waited her out long enough, she would leave and he could finally sneak out and run. Admittedly, a lot of his residual fear and shock was gone but his legs were jittery and he hadn't ran for himself in weeks.

Down the last of the stone steps and entering the church, Sister Midori paused at the first pew and asked Hiei to sit with her. Seeing he wasn't going to get out of a talk, Hiei sat down almost at the farthest end of the pew.

"Is everything all right?" she asked, her sweet voice inviting him to be comforted. "Is something or someone upsetting you?"

"No," Hiei said tersely, as he tried to look away from the giant gold crucifix and more specifically from the moaning, suffering face of the gilded Savior. First time he had seen the cross, he had been standing in the center aisle and at that angle, Hiei hadn't really noticed nor was its anguished face prominent. A few steps to the left now, however, and Hiei was wishing his eyes could fall anywhere else. Why anyone would want to sit on the left side to...to see _that_ left Hiei's stomach writhing more than pit of snakes.

"You can tell me or Father Takenaka if anything is bothering you. It's what we're here for," Midori said, still trying far too hard to encourage Hiei into opening up to her. "And if we're unavailable, you can always talk to God. He'll be happy to listen and help you out."

"I don't need to start talking to myself." Nor did he want to start bowing down to a symbol of glorified torture.

"But you aren't talking to yourself," Midori said, her eyes and voice taking on a slight hurt edge. "You're talking to God. Lots of your classmates talk to God. They'd be happy to hear you talking to God too."

Hiei snorted derisively. "I've got one infallible, preachy know-it-all with me all the time as is," he said. "I don't need two."

Sister Midori looked down at her crossed hands resting in her lap. Hiei didn't think their talk would last much longer. The director of the orphanage had tried this gentle, maternal approach with him before but she had been smart enough to realize it didn't work. The director saw the world and Hiei realistically. Sister Midori thought the world was showered in rainbows and all an unruly student like Hiei needed were kind words and hugs. Her blindness to any and all harsh truth of the world ticked Hiei off and he certainly didn't want any hugs.

"Hiei, have you ever felt alone?" Midori asked, surprising Hiei, though he didn't show it. "Truly alone and utterly small and worthless? Have you ever been scared and uncertain of where your life would lead and what sufferings the coming day would bring? Has day after day left you feeling at the end of the day incomplete, broken, and yearning for more? Made you feel as if you've been trapped in a dark, dismal hole where you wondered if you would ever know what it means to be loved and appreciated? …God's love can save you."

Hiei said nothing. He sat staring down into the altar's marble steps. His hands were bunched into tight, trembling fists. His slow breath shuddered in his throat. Cold chills prickled and crawled across his skin as he remembered. He struggled not to recall everything all at once.

Gradually, Hiei began to see more of the smooth marble steps than the rough concrete. If Midori had prattled on, he had not heard her.

"My mother used to say, 'In the eyes of angels, we are all pure'," she said.

Saint Michael's cold, ovoid eyes flashed across Hiei's mind. He remembered the sound of his great wings and the fall of his sword. Hiei had reluctantly passed by the statue of Saint Michael on the way into the cathedral. The statue's dead eyes still seemed to follow him.

"I know it sounds silly, even untrue, since not all people are pure and good," Midori continued on, fiddling with the tips of her fingernails. "But I think what my mother meant was that to angels, we must be simple creatures. In comparison to angels privy to God's knowledge and entrusted with so much responsibility to protect His Creation, we know so little and accomplish even less. We must be simple in their eyes."

"So the angels think we're retarded."

"Now, Hiei, that isn't a nice word. You shouldn't say it," Midori said, her voice taking a rare firm tone. "And I never meant to imply _that_."

"You just said the angels think we're stupid," Hiei scoffed. "It's probably why God drowns an island nation in ocean water every so often."

Sister Midori looked aghast. "Hiei, that's an awful thing to say!"

"Why not? We're dumb enough to build cities there," Hiei said. "We wonder why the earth is shaking as our buildings crumble down upon us when we live knowingly on a tectonic fault line. It's because we're stupid."

"We are all God's children, Hiei. Each and every one of us is unique and loved in our Creator and His messengers' eyes," Midori hurried to explain. "We are simple, in regards that we must be taught right from wrong, to do good, not bad. It is why we have and follow the words of the Almighty and His Most Blessed Son to teach us the way of good and righteousness. Sometimes terrible things happen unexpectedly but they happen for a reason. We are just too simple to comprehend God's plan."

"So says the battered wife too afraid to leave her abusive husband."

"That isn't an apt comparison at all, Hiei," Midori said, pink on her cheeks in frustration. "God isn't abusive to His children."

"You read the first half of that book, didn't you?" Hiei said, glaring at her. "I remember there being a story where God flooded the world, saving only a handful of people, instead of patiently and devotedly and lovingly like a _good_ father would teaching the wicked and sinful the 'right' way. A father that saves one kid and slaughters his rest because they wouldn't listen to him typically rots in jail or gets the death sentence in reality."

"Hiei, God's will is unfathomable—"

"And absolute," Hiei said and Midori nodded. "So is a mad dictator's."

Sister Midori bowed her head and gradually breathed a long sigh. "…Hiei, you are a wonderful and unique child of God and one day you will see He loves you and you will open your heart and love Him back."

Hiei snorted derisively and stood up. Tears misted Midori's eyes as he moved past her. He stopped a few steps after, looked over his shoulder, and said, "I've been alone. I've felt small and worthless. I've been in darkness and in holes. I've been broken, hungry, scared, uncertain…"

Midori turned in her seat and faced him. Her eyes and smile were hopeful.

"God didn't do shit," Hiei said and stormed off.

Not caring if she followed him and caught him heading up to the woods, Hiei hurried into the forest anyway. His legs were shaking and his thoughts were racing and the only way he could escape the past was to run forward.

-o-

After Sunday Mass, Kurama Minamino exited the cathedral with his classmates slowly and in a single file. He greeted everyone who said hello to him cordially and accepted their congratulations on representing Sacred Heart yet again last night. His involvement in the charity event hadn't been formally introduced over the intercom like most student awards and acclaims but had traveled by word of mouth and nothing related to Kurama Minamino's fame was ever secret for long.

He answered his curious classmates' questions in general terms and never went into great detail, especially of the other guests, presumably to be polite but also to hide the truth of what it was actually like to be in the presence of wealth and power.

"Minamino, you're not being absolutely truthful," Kaitou said smirking as he approached and interrupted Kurama as spoke to another classmate. "I heard the applause after your speech lasted for an hour and guests lined up and waited hours to meet you. You were the belle of the ball, weren't you?"

Kurama put on a smile and tipped his head down modestly. "My applause lasted for no longer than the typical, proper response and there were no lines or waiting. I moved and greeted freely across the great hall."

"Ah, I see," Kaitou said, neither his smirk nor his voice lost a drop of spite. "You have become such a common sight at these charity soirees no one even pays heed to you anymore. Not even your abnormally pleasant features can attract you attention. Pity, how unremarkable you are to the outside world when your glittering luster fades. It's overexposure, Minamino. People eventually get _sick_ of seeing you."

As hardness crept along into Kaitou's smirk and voice, the classmate Kurama was speaking to inched away. Kurama kept his smile.

"Are you proposing I suggest someone else represent Sacred Heart at the charity event next year?" he said as he began to return to the dorms, tipping his head in a manner inviting Kaitou to follow him.

Kurama had represented Sacred Heart at the annual charity event, the actual charity fundraised for changed every year, for three years now. While it was more of a reunion of sorts between the usual attendants, each year Kurama was steadily being recognized, his attendance as well was becoming expected. Every year, the same old lady would seek Kurama out and speak to him as if he was her young grandnephew, even insist he call her 'Obaachan', though instead of pinching his cheeks, she would run and claw her hands incessantly through his hair.

There were always a few eccentric but harmless individuals floating about the gathering. Those Kurama could handle with ease. It was the far-too-shrewd and rational businessmen, bankers, and political sharks he had to guard himself against. And this year, for the first time in many years, the host of the night for which the event was named for, Enma Daioh, graced the great hall with his large presence. Perhaps it was egotistical of him to think, but Kurama had his strong suspicions that Enma Daioh was only there because of Kurama. The notion didn't sound so arrogant after all the speeches were made.

"However, is it not the established rule that the student with the top score be chosen to attend?" Kurama added, moments before Kaitou prepared to answer him. "I do not know if I would be allowed to break convention." He made a playful show of looking up at the sky and curiously considering the possibility.

Kaitou snorted derisively. "Oh, I am certain you are allowed to do whatever you wish, Minamino," he said, his smirk gone and replaced by his usual bitter slit of a frown. "The rules bend to you, if you only asked them to. You could murder a man in calculated cold blood in the campus square for all to see and everyone, including the jury, would cast blame and fault on your victim."

"I assure you, Kaitou, it is not as great an honor as you may perceive," Kurama said, lightly laughing. "It is a rather tedious evening and does call for quite an extensive amount of petty socializing. Casual conversation has never been your preference and it is all meaningless blather on a grand scale. If you expect to mingle with true sophisticates, you will be disappointed. Three-fourths of the room will praise your evening speech without understanding a word of it and will essentially pat your head and tell you what a smart boy you are. The other fourth will have understood your speech perfectly but be more interested in exploiting your intelligence for their personal gain."

_Or in my case,_ Kurama thought, the tone in his mind firm and disgusted as he maintained his outward cheer, _be too occupied scheming how to get me bent over their desks._

Whenever Father Takenaka was drawn away, at least one would approach him, lay a hand on his shoulder, a few even twiddled with his hair. They would praise his high standing in such a prestigious school, comment on his speech, pepper in more voluble acclaim of his intelligence, and then they would finally cast off the gentle sheep wool and the wolves would offer him positions with their company, full rides to any university in Japan or America, if he so wished. They offered him gifts of luxury, clothes, cars, private islands, month-long paid vacations to wherever he pleased, even drugs if he would…intern at their main office for a few months, years if matters worked out.

There was a dance floor but all of Kurama's verbal waltzing and well-timed delays were made far from it. He would sidestep these salacious offers until he could reach Father Takenaka's side again or spilt off and surround himself in more trustworthy crowds. Obaachan had helped him escape many times when the wolves refused to hear Kurama's polite, humble declines, either by politely wheedling her way into the conversation and excusing him or by bluntly and wordlessly dragging him away by the arm. She had shown up so many times Kurama suspected, either intentionally for his own good or by lucky happenstance, she was keeping an eye out for him.

"And I am just supposed to take your word for it that everything is as the great Kurama Minamino described?" Kaitou scoffed haughtily. "No other student but you for the past three years has been privy to what carries on."

_My, Kaitou has grown petulant… To no wonder, I suppose. End of term tests are approaching._ "You think I was trying to persuade you against going?" he said, raising an eyebrow at a questioning slant. "Perhaps I was warning you…"

Kaitou rushed ahead and blocked his access to the main doors to the dormitory. "It is not fair you are selected to represent Sacred Heart year after year."

"This is a matter best brought before Father Takenaka then," Kurama said calmly. "And if you require confirmation of my general summary of the evening's events, talk to the headmaster. He will agree that a long night of pleasantries and listening to prosaic, pompous speech after speech congratulating the room for their minimal contributions to the choice charity and explaining why the charity is important will suit you ill."

Kurama stepped toward the door and Kaitou begrudgingly let him pass inside. While Kurama enjoyed the prospect of someone else being subjugated to the tedium of listening to the rich and powerful self-congratulate themselves on their generosity and of himself not having to spend the rest of his evening fluttering from one trivial talking point to another while avoiding less scrupulous guests, he wondered if any other student could work the great hall as well as him. Kaitou sure wanted to try.

Then again, perhaps Kaitou would be safer than him. Kaitou's talents were certainly different from Kurama's so perhaps he would be ignored, another young face amid the other student representatives. The only guests that would pursue and mine him for his skills would be a desperate company, bank, or politician looking for a witty slogan to rebrand their tarnished name. If he was graciously offered an internship, it would really be an internship.

In small ways, Kurama considered as he headed up the stairs to the third floor, Kaitou did not see how lucky he was to be in second place. He still had notoriety for his high intellect, his pick of choice universities, but he never had to leave his dorm room and smile for the world. As Kurama had gotten ready last night, tightened his tie, buttoned his waistcoat, Kaitou had sat in his bed and read for his own pleasure, occasionally glaring up from the top of his book as Kurama walked by yet again, absolutely ungrateful to how lucky he was.

As he gathered a few necessities and a change of clothes, he caught sight of the business card Enma Daioh had given him the other night laying on the top of his and Kaitou's waste bin. Enma had approached him as soon as he could and had introduced him warmly to his subordinates and surrounding allies and rivals as the boy to look out for, being the brightest mind in the room, much to the other student representatives' noticeable resentment.

After praising him far too generously, he had tried to put Kurama on the spotlight and reveal any potentially interesting—in other words, profitable—plans Kurama may have had in the works but Kurama maintained the partial truth that he was solely invested in his academics, what with end of term tests swiftly approaching.

Kurama snatched the card off the top of the mountain of crumpled paper balls and ripped it into snow globe-suitable snowflakes. He wondered if it was for the safety of the world that he was always chosen to represent Sacred Heart whenever the occasion called for it. If Enma Daioh had approached another student as he had approached Kurama last night, would they have guarded their ideas close or signed away their every last original thought to the devil in mortal form?

Knowing the vast majority of the country and worldwide charity organizations depended on and blessed the philanthropy of Enma Daioh, even if they didn't like the brutal corporate ogre himself, Kurama knew exactly what would have happened.

Gathering his bath supplies and clothes, he made his way to the third floor showers to scrub away last night's filth from his mind and body.

-o-

Having slept in a tree during the later half of the evening or the early half of the morning, if one chose to consider it that way, Hiei made his way back on campus after a foggy early morning run. Seemed like Mass was just letting out so Hiei went a roundabout route away from the crowd of lingering, prattling students and away from Father Takenaka, just in case he or Sister Midori still thought a chat was a good idea.

Not really having any plans for the day and having done all the homework he planned on doing, Hiei decided to head back to the dorms and grab the library's copy of _Frankenstein_ and hunt down Minamino—it was his turn to check out the book in his name.

Along the way to the dorms, Hiei noticed students staring at him, which was not uncommon, much to Hiei's revulsion. Except students weren't exactly staring at him but at his uniform. Hiei's Academy-issued navy blue and yellow tartan pants had somehow been splattered and streaked with mud, more than likely when Hiei had accidentally sped down too fast and slid down a wet, mucky hillside. With just a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises, barely felt and hardly noticed, he hadn't gotten terribly hurt. Really, his school uniform had suffered the most damage. Hiei thought it was an improvement.

Stopping off for breakfast at the vending machine, Hiei noticed in the glass how ruined his uniform was and the streaks of mud and tiny cuts along his arms and cheeks. He had spare uniforms so there was no loss there but he figured he should scrub off the thick layer of gray-brown dried mud off his arms and legs and wherenot before he changed into something mostly clean.

Having picked through his corner clothes pile, Hiei grabbed his things and headed to the second floor showers. No sooner after he shut his door did he find Minamino carrying a lot of the same stuff he was carrying, only in a much nicer neat little basket rather than crammed in his arms.

"May I ask what happened?" Minamino said, pausing at Hiei's door, and looked down at the cuts on his crossed arms.

"I fought the laws of motion," Hiei said dryly. "They won."

Minamino smiled. "Scientific laws typically do not like to be broken."

"I also slept in a tree."

"I have heard Kuwabara's snoring described in horrendous terms," Minamino said. "However, I did not realize it was that problematic."

Hiei decided he didn't have to correct Minamino's presumption. "It's your turn to check out my book."

"That it is," Minamino agreed. "We will head over soon enough."

Hiei's eyes widened as Minamino walked past and headed to the second floor showers. "What are you doing?"

"Going to take a shower," he said, stopping in the doorframe, and looked back at Hiei. "Bath poufs have so few other uses."

"There are showers on the third floor." And the first floor. Minamino had his pick of showers so why did he have to choose the second floor at this particular moment?

"Yes, they exist, however, they are not functional," Minamino explained and then looked back at Hiei once more. "Are you coming?"

Hiei wasn't so sure anymore. He had planned on it but with Minamino being there…maybe he should wait. The thing was he still had streaks of mud down his arms, legs, in his shoes and he kind of…well, really needed to do his laundry once he found Kuwabara's wallet—he certainly wasn't going to have Minamino cover for him again. He almost considered waiting Minamino out if it wasn't for the mud starting to crust and itch driving him crazy enough to push past the shower doors, past Minamino, and into a stall.

If he just hurried, tossed his clothes off, and ducked under the spray, he could be in and out and clean in minutes. Besides there were six showers, what were the chances of Minamino selecting a stall next to him?

Very high apparently as he heard only what could be Minamino entering the stall to his left. In his rush, he probably should have chosen the first or last stall but in all likelihood Minamino probably still would have gotten into the stall beside him. He tended to be a pain in the ass like that.

Hiei froze mid-pulling off his mucked dress shirt and wondered what he was supposed to do now and then he quickly realized there was nothing he had to do, just shower. It kind of felt weird, though, especially as he undressed, but it didn't have to be weird. It didn't have to be anything. Though Hiei preferred to shower when no one else was around, it wasn't like someone had never entered the stall next to him and showered beside him before. Except he never knew without a doubt who was next to him and he certainly never knew it was definitely Minamino.

It would be so much easier if he couldn't hear him and vice versa on Minamino's side. …Not like Hiei was making any strange noises, just taking off his muddy clothes and tossing them on the thin bench in his small ante-space just outside the shower. It was just…Minamino could hear him and he could hear Minamino stepping, setting his bath supplies up, the flutter of his clothes slipping off…

Hiei stumbled back and hit his locked stall door, the bolt jangling jarringly in the bathroom's silence. Minamino didn't ask if anything was wrong and Hiei didn't provide any answer. It wasn't that big a deal. He had just…lost his balance was all.

The fact that an inch of faux marble was all that separated them did not ease his mind. Only made him think how little an inch was. He found himself glancing over, checking the wall as if the wall could fade at any moment.

Hiei hurried and just barely remembered to add cold to the hot water as he dove under the spray. Cloudy brown water almost immediately began to circle the drain. He had a moment of peace and relief as he began to chip and scrape wet dirt off his arms and feel clean until he heard Minamino's showerhead kick on beside him.

_Scrub and ignore it,_ he told himself as he turned around and wet the mud on his back of his legs. He heard the water splatter on the blue and white tile floor on Minamino's side. He was wetting his hair. Hiei imagined the water soaking through, gathering and weighing down his long locks, the slightest press of his slender hands squeezing a heavy splash to the floor.

Hiei quickly and uncomfortably darted his stare up and to the right and fumbled for his soap left outside on the bench. His hand was shaking a bit. He wondered if the fluttering in chest had something to do with it.

He tried not to think. He tried to focus. He could wash his hair another time. For right now, he just needed to get the dirt off him.

Minamino's shampoo cap creaked and popped open. Hiei turned his head to look and then turned away. Fine, he was washing his hair. Wasn't that big a deal. People washed their hair. Hiei washed his hair, just not this time. It wasn't something he had to waste thought on.

He wished the wall dividing them stretched from the floor to the ceiling as the scent of Minamino's shampoo wafted through the open air. It smelled of sun-kissed berries, it smelled mostly of fresh strawberries at first and then he caught the hint of raspberries. The cafeteria sometimes served strawberries, never raspberries in a mixed fruit bowl but Hiei had tasted a raspberry once, and none of them compared to the scent and subsequently the taste filling his mouth and nose. He imagined patches of strawberries and raspberries, full and red as Minamino's hair, bending and dipping down their vines low. The taste was sweet in his mouth with only a little spark of tang from the raspberries.

Hiei realized he had smelled it very faintly around Minamino before. It was usually when they were sitting at a meal, more often at breakfast than any other time. The scent was never strong. It was very subtle. Hiei only recalled smelling it before because he remembered suddenly having a hunger for strawberries several times a week.

He was being stupid. No matter if his shampoo smelled wonderful—and it did—it was no reason to stand around drinking it in. He had to focus. He had to get clean and get going. Hiei slid his bar of soap down his arms and across his chest. He told himself to ignore the strawberries, ignore the sudden downpours hitting the floor as Minamino rinsed his hair out, ignore the streaks of water running down the curve of his back, dripping off his arms and legs, sliding down his groin—

No, _no_ , he had to ignore everything and focus on cleaning himself and his own body—

_No,_ he thought, staring down at his body, pausing his bar of soap on his stomach, _this is not happening._

What the hell was happening? His stomach was in knots, his heart was pounding, he was shaking, his breath shuddering, his skin was crawling—not the same abhorrent crawling he felt when touched but it was crawling nonetheless. Why the hell couldn't he think of anything else?! Why was this happening?

It was like the time he had caught himself inadvertently staring at Minamino's backside. No, he had not _actually_ been staring at his backside. He had not wanted to look there. His eyes had just happened to focus there. Minamino had been walking and wearing white pants and in the sunlight white tended to be rather bright and, again, his movement had caught his eye. He had not wanted to look at Minamino's backside. He had just happened to. He had been looking for dirt smudges and for no other reason.

He had not been staring at Minamino's backside.

This was the same. He hadn't wanted to listen to Minamino shower beside him. It was just that he couldn't hear anything else around him. The water from Minamino's hair splattered loudly. The smell of his shampoo invaded his stall. How was that his fault? Everyone showered so how could he not inadvertently picture Minamino, his wet hair clinging to his shoulders and back…

_NO, no, damn it, no!_

He was _not_ physically attracted to Kurama Minamino!

Hiei didn't have those feelings. At all. For anyone. And if he did, he wouldn't be attracted to someone he was just sort of friends with, someone who he fractionally, maybe trusted, someone who ticked him off, stuck his nose into his business, refused to leave him alone half the time. He wouldn't be attracted to perfect, proper, know-everything, worship and kiss the ground he walks on, beauty queen Kurama Minamino.

Turning off the hot water and cranking up the cold, Hiei rushed to soap up and wash off quickly. Minamino was still in the shower by the time Hiei swiftly dried off, changed, gathered his bath supplies, and stormed out of the shower.

_Stupid sexy Kurama Minamino…_ he grumbled as he slammed his door shut behind him. No matter if Minamino came by after his shower to take Hiei to check out the library's copy of _Frankenstein_ in his name, he wasn't about to open his door for him. He could check out his book for him later on tonight…or better yet, tomorrow, and he would pay the late fee.

Because Hiei didn't _like_ Kurama Minamino. And he certainly wasn't attracted to him in the least.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks goes to Devigirl, JiraiyaWhitney, levy, K&Halltheway, Ela, Anna, Anon, and The SilverMoon for commenting on the last chapter and to all those who gave kudos since the last update.
> 
> Since this chapter was hitting 10,000 words and I still have a few scenes left before I complete the chapter as I had intended to, I decided to split the chapter. Updating was taking too long, my mind was wandering toward other projects, and I think I have enough material to make a small but decent sized chapter next posting. And I figured readers would prefer two chapters than wait and wait for one long chapter that easily would've been 15,000+ words as a conservative estimation. All signs are pointing to halving the chapter as a better idea so I have.
> 
> Incidentally, this chapter marks the halfway point in my outline, though whether it is the actual halfway point in my outline is another matter. It's always been my halfway point in my head. A little warning, while not through a dream, Hiei does go through a flashback and it involves a minor continuation from the graphic memory in CH 16. As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: Neh, I don't own any characters from YYH.

-o-

Chapter Nineteen: The Problem with Beaches

-o-

Perched on the windowsill in Minamino's room, Hiei glared down on the masses of students and parents greeting and embracing one another with warmth and delight. He watched classmates show off their acclaims, their improved grades, their altered appearances to their proud, smiling parents—well, most of them were proud, there were a few disappointed parents discovering their child had experimented with peroxide on their hair or decided that rings did not need to be found only on one's hands. Hiei smirked as he watched a small woman smack her linebacker son across the side of his head for his new delinquent hair, a shade that was not far off from Minamino's, though somehow Minamino's red was inexplicably natural.

Which was something Hiei had considered asking Minamino about and reconsidered asking as he briefly turned away from the window and watched Minamino study intently at the very nearby desk and then decided not to pry, figuring that if his hair and eyes did not come from his very Japanese mother, then they had be inherited from his father. It was the way genetics worked, after all. That and Hiei did not wish to point out Minamino's puzzling, albeit pleasing looks any more than he would like his own unnaturally red eyes placed on spotlight.

Hiei peered back down and watched as suitcases and boxes made their way into trunks and backseats. A rather obvious thought came to Hiei's mind. "Why aren't you packing like the rest of them?"

Without pausing or glancing up from his paper, Minamino replied, "Because I have elected to remain on campus during the summer break."

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "That's an option?"

"Only for the summer break," Minamino explained. "The Academy allows students staying behind during this time to pursue faculty-approved projects, offer specialized elective courses of interest, and provides field trip opportunities of both an academic and entertainment variety."

"You really never have to leave, do you?"

Minamino flashed a brief smile. "Actually, it is mandatory that all students return home during the two-week winter break. Other schools typically offer the reverse, however the Academy sees fit to accomplish all cleanup, repair, and all other necessities within the shorter period of time. There will be workers coming in to perform some maintenance in the summer and hopefully the third floor showers will regain their function, though every year their ability to operate tends to remain optional. Three and a half months of use is a new record though."

"Quit clogging up the drains and maybe the pipes won't burst all the time," Hiei shot back and pretended to focus back on the departing student body below.

"If that is the problem, I assure you my hair is not the source nor culprit," Minamino said in a voice that most assuredly deserved a quick flip of his hair over his shoulder but having no need to, Minamino did not.

Hiei did not reply, mostly because he wanted to drop the subject immediately and with haste. He sat staring at random students and feigned his usual indifferent disinterest as a little knot uncomfortably balled itself within his stomach as he faintly recalled and repressed certain sentiments regarding Minamino's wet hair, or dry for that matter.

"Have you considered enrolling in a summer break elective course? The pamphlet summarizing each is right here." Minamino tapped the folded booklet laying on the edge of the desk. "Sister Midori would also be happy to approve any reasonable project you may wish to pursue."

"Actually I'm performing a study in the concept and practical function of self-regulation and private autonomy."

His shoulders shaking in laughter, Minamino smiled. "You know, there is a possibility you could convince Father Akashi to approve your no doubt very scientific do-whatever-I-want-when-I want-to study if you presented it to him with that exact phrasing."

"No, then he'd expect me to write a paper for him to publish without my consent and I don't do magazine covers," and then in the same dry, disinterested tone, he added, "Congrats on earning the full cover page."

"It was supposed to be just an eyecatch…" Minamino sighed and bowed his head in embarrassment. "Mother is very proud."

"How many magazines did you have to autograph?

Minamino sighed again. "Well, as you can plainly observe I completed not a scrap of my homework this morning and I was absent at lunch. You can more than likely speculate a rough number from the data I provided."

In fact, Hiei swiftly did calculate a number. "Did you at least charge them?"

Minamino raised a questioning eyebrow. "No, I did not."

Hiei turned away in a huff and stared not at the students below but out into the forest and surrounding mountainside and wondered how difficult it would be to race to the summit of one. "And they call you a genius…"

-o-

Hiei never realized how much faster time went by when he was stuck in class until the first two weeks of August break and he realized there was absolutely nothing to do at the Academy from a day to day basis. While the other remaining students attended classes, progressed on their projects, or took the shuttle into town, Hiei ran from early morning to mid-afternoon, reached mountaintops, but found little sense of accomplishment at the summit. There were no heavenly voices or stone tablets waiting for him at the top either.

The rest of the day he typically read in the library, sometimes with Minamino orbiting about, collecting his own books of interest and taking notes. Occasionally, since Minamino had read about every book in the library and Hiei had yet to find one he wasn't familiar with, Hiei would ask him if a particularly sleep-inducing book he was drudging through was worth continuing to the end and Minamino would give his abridged critique, often explaining its literary merit to society before ultimately informing Hiei whether or not he was wasting his time waiting on a brilliant turn of events that would never come.

Also on account he still had uncompleted make-up assignments and homework, Father Takenaka had seen to it that Hiei spent two hours in his office lessening his ignored workload. At least, last night after a little more than a month and a half of regular nightly visits and fatherly chats, he had finished everything. Finally, he didn't have to listen to the headmaster reprimand him for his insolence toward faculty—well, mostly Iwamoto—or for skipping class, threatening classmates, or for his part in the biblical plagues 'reenactment'...

Hiei didn't have to abrasively lie anymore about running through the forest, the gossip stirring that he was the one and the only one breaking in and stealing from the cafeteria—the student body hadn't thought much of it when certain non-gelatin with fruit desserts stopped showing up during the week but notice was finally taken when there never seemed to be any cake and ice cream on birthday cake day—or for the volumes of complaints that he was stealing from the dorm fridge. He didn't have to listen to the headmaster's personal sermons and lectures about Christian virtues to him or be told yet again that if he wished to talk, the church doors and his doors would be open.

Instead, last night, on what Hiei hoped would be the start of a long break away from the headmaster's office, Father Takenaka had told him the orphanage staff was wrong about him. They had told him he was taking in the Devil and yet all he had seen was a boy, a coarse and caustic boy, but still only a boy.

"People are far too quick to judge devils all around us," the headmaster had said, smiling softly, wrinkles creasing in the corner of his eyes and upturned mouth, "when the truth of the matter is that they lack the patience to understand."

Hiei had wanted to feel insulted—after all, it wasn't that life at the Academy had had a positive, therefore weakening effect on him. It was only that he didn't give a damn enough to raise hell and the majority of the student body here was at least smart enough to leave him alone (most of the time) and wisely feared his retribution. Hiei wasn't turning good, as the headmaster hoped no doubt. He was apathetic and that was a stark difference. But even though he had scowled at the headmaster's insinuation he was somehow not that bad, it was…rare and strange for anyone to not demonize him.

Takenaka's praise last night had so far been the strangest thing to happen during the first half of their month long break and then bright and early the next morning, Hiei found himself on a bus with twenty other students and Minamino heading toward the beach. He lay stretched out on the backseat partially pretending to sleep while actually trying to be lulled to sleep by the bus motor's steady vibration. Jarred and bounced by a sudden speed bump for the third time in ten minutes, Hiei gave up on trying to sleep and simply lay wondering when in the hell did he agree to spend the weekend off-campus.

He recalled Minamino casually mentioning the field trip early in the week and during their fleeting talk about the trip, Hiei had asked Minamino wryly if he was attempting to prod him into going—to which Minamino countered by asking him if he did indeed wish to go and Hiei had simply shrugged his shoulders and offered a noncommittal grunt. Nothing more on the subject was said all week until that morning during breakfast after Sister Midori announced the bus would leave in one hour, Minamino once again casually asked Hiei if he wished to go and Hiei shrugged his shoulders, finished his syrup-soaked waffles, tossed his bag alongside Minamino's in the storage hatch, and claimed the backseat.

At the time, going away from the Academy had seemed like a fair enough, why-the-hell-not idea and then Hiei remembered there would be people and children, noise and heat and sand at the beach and then suddenly the only good aspect about going to the beach seemed to be that it wasn't the Academy…

Three hours later and after a little chat with the hotel receptionist, Sister Midori called the students out on the parking lot to decide roommates and to assign room keys. In the time it took for the vast majority of the girls to squeal in delight and peer over at Minamino, he had already signed Hiei as his roommate with Sister Midori and returned to his side with their key.

Generally uncomfortable with the whole idea of sharing a room with Minamino and debating on protesting the arrangements, Hiei wasn't sure winding up rooming with Minamino would be any better than being stuck with any of his admirers—actually, it probably would've been better because while they definitely would piss him off, he could disregard Minamino's admirers or frighten them into compliance while Minamino was immune to his taunts. What he truly wanted was his own room, which was absolutely the best part of Kuwabara going home the past two weeks, but he knew there was no way that was ever going to happen on this outing.

Their room itself was plain, neutral-colored, and standard-issue but thankfully clean to the naked eye. Every room issued to the students contained two beds and with the uneven pairs and Hiei and Minamino lucked out by not having to double board with another pair of students—the not-so-secret reason being that no one wanted to room with Hiei for the usual fear of him and for the murmured embellished stories from other students overhearing Kuwabara's complaints of him waking up screaming at night or staring into the dark and of his threats to smother him or otherwise murder him in his sleep. He probably didn't help those rumors by glaring with what easily could've been described as murderous intent at one girl making the sign of the cross over her body and praying aloud for sweet and brave Minamino's safety.

"Such a pleasant day," Minamino remarked as he peered out onto the beach after parting the drab curtains. "With a perfect view like this, you don't really have to leave the room."

Hiei had a sarcastic response, he had a list of beach tragedies to intertwine into his sarcasm that would've cast the perfect cynical cloud over the entire beach weekend, but then during Minamino's comment, Hiei had looked up at the right place, time, angle to notice the sun rays embracing and outlining Minamino's shape as he leaned forward against the windowsill. He suddenly couldn't recall the awful things he had on the tip of his tongue not a second ago.

"…Hn," was all Hiei said before staring down at his suitcase tossed into the bed and removing the library's copy of _Frankenstein_ from it. It was the only non-necessary item he had grabbed in his packing flurry, though its non-necessary status was up for debate in Hiei's opinion.

"It does not appear to be too congested out on the surf," Minamino said, finally stepping away from the window and setting down that stupid light purple bookbag with that equally ridiculous gold foxtail trinket he was rarely seen without—apparently, the bag held most of his research notes and books. "Would you like to walk along the coast if nothing else? It seems a shame not to enjoy the day a little."

While Hiei preferred gray, gloomy, stormy days as they reflected to the truth of the world better than blue skies and warm sun, it didn't matter to Hiei either way how pretty it was outside. He simply didn't like how pretty days drew people outside.

After changing into a pair of black trunks and a t-shirt, Hiei followed Minamino and apparently the rest of their classmates down to the beach. He wished he had grabbed a light-colored shirt, instead of stuffing his suitcase with mostly black and the occasional rogue dark blue shirt, but he had not and had nothing to reflect the sun's rays. For anyone else, this wouldn't be a problem and simply meant taking off one's shirt on the surf but he would make Kuwabara the Pope and kiss his papal ring before he stepped out onto the busy beach baring his skin, no matter how hot the sun burned through his black cotton.

The beach itself wasn't as bad as Hiei had thought it would be. The sea-soaked sand was cool to the touch and the resistance the dry sand offered as he ran through it offered a bit more of a challenge than the forest was providing him of lately. It was an interesting change of pace and wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the other people and the rest of the Academy students, particularly the girls begging Minamino to join them, with the unspoken, underlying argument being that he should ditch Hiei, and play volleyball and laze about with them, his scantily-clad harem-disciples, and wait for the dolphins to show up.

Minamino politely turned them down, even after a girl insisted they needed him for safety because he probably knew CPR after which another girl said she had certified training and the first girl sharply hushed her.

"She would've sounded less desperate if she had directly asked you to kiss her," Hiei grumbled, a measure of disgust lining his voice, as he and Minamino walked toward the other side of the beach, the waves breaking against their ankles.

"It would be less demeaning on both sides if they were not so overt in their ploys," Minamino said, lightly shaking his head in disbelief.

"They act as if you're something worth vying for," Hiei scoffed, his head turned toward the shore as he stared down at the wet sand. "You have a swarm of suitors volleying for your crown and favor so give them three impossible tasks and let them kill themselves off already, Your Highness."

"That would be an efficient means of weeding out my one and only," Minamino said, his smile and eyes brightening, as he peered up in a show of playful consideration. "But I have no need for golden apples."

"You are the golden apple," Hiei said, instantly disliking and visibly sneering at his own phrasing. "Universally desired yet unobtainable, a myth partially made and promoted by yourself, of course." _Not that it took much promotion… It doesn't take much effort for people to notice you._

"Interesting theory, but where does my personal attraction factor in?"

"It doesn't," Hiei said curtly. "This is all vanity."

"Mine or theirs?"

"Both," Hiei said. "You know they're attracted to you." _They crawl over one another just to get you to look their way and you don't care._

"And I must accept all advances?" Minamino said, raising an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, I find a poly-amorous relationship unappealing."

"You could stop letting them fawn all over you," Hiei replied, surprised by the anger slipping into his voice. "Let them know it's pointless and annoying but then you couldn't play that card, now could you?" _You may enjoy it but I… There's no point to it!_

"I would never deign myself to utilize their affections to my gain. But I cannot control how their hyper-idealistic sentiments toward me sway their behavior. It is an annoyance, yes, but there are other subtle, gentler ways of turning down romantic intentions, especially when I would rather remain platonic with…" he paused and sighed resignedly, "…the vast majority of the female student body."

"Like feigning obliviousness?" Hiei had been present but ignored enough times as another girl blatantly tried way too hard to flirt with Minamino as he pretended to catch onto only the surface meaning of her words and thanked her for her compliments as only a modest, proper boy would until the girl gave up, undeterred but thwarted for now.

"Yes, and outright unresponsiveness to their advances also works," Minamino added. "Eventually disinterest will be recognized as no interest, especially when their hormones stabilize."

That answer Hiei found interesting. "So they'll just…stop falling at your feet? There will be a moment where they'll look at you and feel nothing?"

"Infatuation is fleeting, so the most practical course is to let it run its course."

_So everything…the knotting in my stomach, the stalled breath, the simultaneous push and pull toward him whenever he walks into a room, the diverging thoughts circling back to him at any moment…it will all go away?_

_It's all biological. Just stupid bodily chemicals screwing with me. Minamino said so himself and if anyone should know, it would be the Academy's exulted genius._

"So how long does it take until they don't give a damn about you?" Hiei asked, pretending to be only irritated when there was a measure of personal curiosity hiding behind his scowl and listening ear.

"It will vary individually. One day, they'll just find something more appealing. When, I cannot say. For many, it has been four years and counting…"

Hiei groaned in annoyance. Minamino would presume he was impatient to put an end to the increasingly common disruption of so many of his admirers approaching him the past few weeks vying for his time and trying to be helpful by offering him a study break—it wasn't as if he _really_ needed to study so much for the end of term tests and now that testing was over, they should have _fun_ —and while the former was true, Hiei had other reasons to be impatient.

Hiei had a sharp retort that as long as Minamino attended Sacred Heart, he would always have annoying, flocking admirers but before he could speak, a familiar shout silenced him. Not needing to look to see who it was, laughing and waving with more familiar company in tow, Hiei groaned once more.

"Well, if it's not Red Right-About-Everything and the Tiny Grumpy Wolf, what are you two doing here?" Yusuke said, grinning. "I seriously hope you're not here to quiz us."

"No, though I can prepare a few questions if you would like a few extra credit points," Minamino replied.

"Nice offer," Yusuke smirked, "but I'd like to enjoy my summer break."

"It probably wouldn't hurt you, Yusuke," his not-girlfriend said. It took a second for Hiei to remember her name. Why he didn't know it immediately as much as Yusuke complained about her, Hiei couldn't figure out. …Keiko, that was it.

"You too, Kazuma," a young woman said, rising from her beach blanket, her light brown hair pulled back, as she reached for her cigarette pack and her lighter. Hiei had never met her before but he did vaguely recall his idiot roommate saying something about having an older sister.

"Hey, I think I'm passing," Yusuke said defensively.

"And I've been passing," Kuwabara said proudly, gloating in a voice that Hiei swore was more fitting if he was announcing two plus two equaled fish with a remainder of u.

"Wait," Keiko said, an annoyed eyebrow rising at a questioning slant, "you _think_ you're passing?"

Scratching his cheek, Yusuke grinned sheepishly. "Well, my graded papers come back in the double digits now."

Keiko didn't find his joke humorous. She sighed. "Yusuke, why don't you take anything seriously? You're going to get held back if you're not careful."

"He's doing that on purpose, you know," that girl with the blue hair and pink eyes from his tutorial class said, standing beside Keiko and sporting a knowing smile. "Just to rile you up. He must like seeing you angry." She giggled as Yusuke vigorously denied her claim, replying that Keiko's slaps stung when she was ticked off.

Hiei remembered Botan's name a hair quicker, mostly because she had the same name as a candy and he supposed also because he saw her on a regular basis.

"It's not that. He hasn't grown up since elementary school," Keiko, her cheeks pink, once again sighed. She then looked to Minamino and asked if Yusuke was passing. "Please tell me he's at least trying…"

Minamino informed her that despite all his bluster to maintain his delinquent persona, Yusuke was improving his grades and was at the moment on the passing side of the dividing line.

"Hey, you still haven't told us why you're here," Yusuke said, flashing his smirking, casual grin again. "I figured Hiei would stay over but not you, Kurama. Figured you'd be home."

"No, I decided to remain as well," Minamino replied. "We are attending an Academy field trip. And you?"

"We've been coming here for years," Kuwabara said. "Closest beach to home."

Sniping her cigarette and saving the snub for later, his idiot roommate's sister stood up on her blanket, briefly stretched, and made her way into the group. She first looked at Minamino and miraculously Hiei did not see absolute enrapture besot a young woman's eyes upon close meeting Minamino.

"So you're the Academy's new golden boy… My brother's told me so much about you," she said, smiling, and then she looked down at Hiei and her smile grew just a fraction and turned into a smirk. "He's told me even more about you. You've got him pissing himself."

"He does not!" Kuwabara squawked in outrage. "I ain't afraid of no half-pint."

"You pretty much have a learning disability in all subjects, don't you?" Hiei replied.

"Crawl under a sand dollar, Hiei, 'cause it's way too pretty out for you to be ruinin' my summer," Kuwabara replied.

"How the hell did Kurama get you on the beach anyway?" Yusuke asked. The girls had already run out into the surf, with Kuwabara's sister leisurely talking with Minamino as they approached the water.

"He promised I wouldn't have to deal with stupid people," Hiei said, circling around and heading back toward the hotel. "Seeing how he's breached that contract, I'm going."

"Come on, Hiei," Yusuke insisted. "You're already out here. Get in the water."

"No," he replied without pause in his voice or step.

"It won't kill you. We're all jumping in. Hell, look, even Kurama's gone out for a dip."

Hiei did pause and peer off to the side and saw Minamino with his hair pulled up into high ponytail swimming out, water droplets catching the sun and sparkling iridescently. Luckily, he wasn't in any commercial fishing waters or a boat surely would've scooped him up, having mistaken him for a mermaid.

Through his pace did not visibly quicken, Hiei hurried toward the hotel.

"Come on, shrimp, nothing's gonna eat you out there," Kuwabara called.

"And if you see a shark, punch it in the nose," Yusuke added, laughing.

Hiei growled at their stupidity and marched on, weaving through blankets and beach parasols and sharply stopped as yet another child not looking where it was going rushed out in front of him. As the sand gained more and more occupants, he considered pulling back his previous decision that the beach hadn't been that bad—even though at the time when it was less crowded and it had been just him and…the sea, it really hadn't been that bad at all.

By the time he noticed his shadow growing at his feet, Hiei's arms and legs were lifted from the sand. Alarm combusted into anger, pain sparked across his skin, as he thrashed and kicked and cursed vehemently as he was picked up, his leg breaking free of its hold once and striking one of his attackers in presumably the thigh or groin. And then he realized his so-called attackers were a pair of morons, specifically they were Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Put me down!" Hiei ordered, wrenching and writhing against their locked grips, as they, grinning and laughing like fools all long the way, raced him across the beach and back toward the surf.

Hiei's protests went ignored in the wake of their stupid idea. As their feet kicked up water and broke waves and wildly sent up spray around them, Yusuke and Kuwabara rushed and wadded out into waist-deep water. With one great heave, they tossed him into the air.

His stomach and heart in knots with fear, it did not take long for the stark realization to hit Hiei that he was going into the water. He plunged into the sea, his nasal passages burning immediately from inhaling water, his eyes shutting close. As he sank, panic and survival and memory took over and he screamed into the sea, forcing the last of his air to bubble far away from his lungs. His arms were not bound behind him, his legs were not pinned to the coarse concrete, nor was his head held underwater but, fully submerged, there was no difference. He flailed and clawed the water in a desperate search for a solid surface to grab onto as the water shifted fluidly on, against, and around his body as water was naturally prone to do so.

 _Do you understand, boy?_ The man repeated, his voice on the edge of smug snickering. _The brittleness of life. Two inches is enough to drown you and we have more than that here. God didn't make you a merboy, now did he?_

Head fuzzy, disorientated, blind, his body sore, tired, Hiei fought his mind's commands to take a deep breath. Inhaling water was a stupid way to die. _Can't have you blacking out on me_ …the man said, giving into a throaty chuckle. Neither Hiei nor the man, however, had much of a choice in the matter this time.

Up, he swore through the mental haze that his body was rapidly floating up. Dead bodies floated but Hiei had always thought it was a lazy, slow process of returning to the surface and not the pop up way the movies showed drownings. That and Hiei wasn't actually dead yet…

Breaking the surface, new air burned down into his lungs. He coughed up water as he simultaneously gasped for air, the two impulses fighting for priority. He opened his eyes and saw brightness and then the sea and somewhere far from his view was the beach. He thrashed and kicked erratically, splashed and spat water about, drowning still being his likely end. He fought to keep his head above water and grasped onto the first solid shape.

"Easy, Hiei," he heard Minamino gently warn. He was very close. "Relax. You'll pull us both under if you panic."

Hiei looked and realized then that it was Minamino holding him above water, one arm bracing the small of his back, his other supporting him underneath his arm. In his panic, Hiei had unknowingly grabbed the strap of Minamino's sleeveless swimshirt and hooked an arm around the back of his neck. Thin layers of wet cloth and seawater were all that separated their bodies and to Hiei's skin, Minamino might as well been made of hot coals.

Though the water was far from freezing, Hiei was shaking. Fear from his near-drowning was still present and toppling onto that were the bolts of pain, the raw prickling and clawing sensations shooting up his arms and across his chest as Minamino held onto him and gradually tread the sea back to shore. Breath quickening into hyperventilation, Hiei squirmed, fought, and pushed away from Minamino. He wanted to get away. His body urged him to.

He kicked Minamino and pushed off from him. He immediately dipped below the ocean surface and snorted water. Minamino rapidly had a hold of him once more, despite Hiei's wriggling. He hurried as best he could toward the shore and reminded Hiei to slow his breath, to focus and breathe. Tired, body sore, his head resting on the crook of Minamino's neck and shoulder as he dug his fingernails into Minamino's skin, Hiei fought through his mental disarray to find something to focus on so he could ease his breath and not pass out.

He was at the sea, he reminded himself. He was in the sea…because of two dead dumbasses. If he ever got back to shore, he was going to kill Yusuke and Kuwabara. As what always wound up being the case, Hiei found anger to be his most reliable and centering emotion.

As soon as Minamino reached ankle-deep water, he finally set Hiei down. Tired, shaking, and aching, Hiei staggered to the shore and stumbled onto the wet sand. He caught himself and braced himself up onto his quivering hands and knees. It was saltwater, not tears he swore that dripped into the sand.

Minamino was kneeled beside him without pause. "Hiei, do you need help? Shall I inform Sister Midori?" he asked, concerned eyes surveying him. He placed a hand on the top of his back and slid it around in a reassuring gesture. It would've felt worse than like sandpaper ripping and abrading his skin if he had worn no shirt. "Perhaps I should, given the circumstances—"

"N-No, I'm fine." He shoved his arm off his back. "I…just give me a sec."

The idiots came running. "Hey, you all right, man?" Yusuke called.

Hiei raised his head up and glowered at Yusuke's insult of asking if he was okay. "I can't swim, you assholes!"

"He's all right," Kuwabara said as his sister snuck up behind him and thumped him on the back of his head. Apparently he had made enough of a commotion to alert the rest of their company and draw a sizable gawking crowd and would've summoned a lifeguard if one had been on duty.

"I swear to God you are _dead_ —"

"Quit flipping your short lid, we thought about that," Yusuke said teasingly, arms on his hips as he grinned in relief. "That's why we threw you close to Kurama. You didn't drown."

"Yusuke, he could have," Keiko snapped back. "That was awful! At least apologize."

"Yes, it was a very poorly considered, ill-conceived stunt," Minamino agreed, voice distinctly cool, as he rose to standing.

"Yea, I admit that," he said guiltily, scratching his cheek in embarrassment as he looked away from Minamino's sharp eyes. "Sorry, Hiei, we were just playing. We wouldn't have tossed you if we had known you'd sink like a brick."

"We just wanted you to lighten up, have fun," Kuwabara said, rubbing the bump on the back of his head. "You know, see you smile without someone getting hurt."

"Tell ya what," Yusuke said, "I'll help you hold down Kuwabara's head underwater if that'll square us even."

"The hell you won't!" Kuwabara fired back in outrage, eyes wide in alarm. "It was your idea, Urameshi. Let him drown _you_! I don't wanna die."

After Yusuke argued back that Kuwabara was being a crybaby and the idiots collapsed into their usual argument, Hiei stopped giving a damn. He ignored Botan after she kneeled down beside him and asked him questions and snubbed her offered hand to help him stand and stood up by himself. He trudged through the sand over to their smoothed out beach blanket and sat under the parasol's shade, folding and drawing in his legs close. He stared down into the blanket's diamond pattern through the gap between his knees.

The idiots' fight was eventually stopped before beach security, or a form of it, could be called in. Kuwabara found a giant red starfish washed up on the shore and tried to show off with it in front of Botan—apparently her rejecting him once wasn't enough—but Botan was more worried for the starfish and urged him to release it in the ocean than she was noticing the oaf's dumb bodybuilder poses. Kuwabara's sister returned to her blanket, shared a knowing, dull look with Hiei, and silently agreed that he had no chance.

His skin still felt raw and burning but the pain had lessened from the crawling, clawing sensations. It was probably going to be a while before he was truly calm inward and outward. Luckily, the idiots were occupied with acting dumb in front of their not-girlfriends, Kuwabara's sister suntanned nearby but she wasn't interested in making small talk, and Minamino was stuck mesmerizing a gaggle of his peers, so Hiei was as alone as he could get.

And when he could, for smatterings of a second, hear only the rolling sea, the beach wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, that peace didn't remain.

"Damn, shrimp, you burn up real quick," Kuwabara said, unbuckling the locks on a cooler and grabbing a half drank bottle of orange juice out from the ice.

"I'm not burnt," Hiei said tersely.

"Like hell you aren't…" Yusuke said, grabbing a soda. "Kurama didn't pack any sunscreen?"

"It was offered," Minamino said, apparently freed from his classmates momentarily.

"I've got some!" Botan said, much too chipper, before she rummaged in her bag in search of her bottle. "Ah, bingo!"

"I don't think it does much good once you have a sunburn," Keiko told her.

Hiei's scowl deepened. He didn't have a sunburn.

"Here you go," Botan said much too cheerfully as she bent down and handed him a tall tube of sunscreen. Not only was Hiei seeing far too much of her than he ever wanted to, especially in her bowed position, she was staring at him. Probably hoped they could become friends too. "Oh, Hiei, you've cut yourself…"

Hiei glared at her. "I don't cut myself."

"Of course," she nodded and smiled awkwardly in apology. "What I meant to say is that there's a cut on your leg…"

"It's old," he growled in warning. "Can't you tell?"

"I tripped during a landing hang-gliding and busted my forehead on a rock once. It left a tiny scar right here. See?" Great…she was trying to find common ground.

"That explains a lot actually," Hiei said without looking.

"So what happened?" she asked, innocently curious. She and all the others waited to hear his reply as they gathered closer around or at least posed a listening ear.

"Something sharp sliced the surface of my skin."

"We get that, runt, but what cut you?" Kuwabara asked. "What were you doing?"

He was laying on a gurney, bound and screaming through his cotton ball gag, as rubbing alcohol ate away at an infection on his privates. He clawed at the gurney, the air, anything and wriggled in his straps as the man pulled back the skin from the bottom of his knee to his ankle and exposed his living muscle tissue.

His arms crossed over his chest, Yusuke smirked. "He's not telling because it's something really stupid, I bet…"

 _Are you_ stupid _, boy?_ the man shouted as he slammed his hands on the clanking metal gurney's sides, the reverberation shaking through him, and loomed over Hiei. _Don't_ ever _move during a procedure. …I might accidentally cut you._

"…I…" He struggled to not let his body or voice tremble or vomit. The clean sea air suddenly smelled of rubbing alcohol. He wrapped his arms around his folded legs and pulled them in just a hair tighter. "I fell headfirst out of a tree."

Yusuke and Kuwabara immediately burst into laughter. "You can reach a tree?" Yusuke said, earning more laughter, mostly out of himself and Kuwabara.

Apparently his explanation was enough and the circle disbanded to resume their fun while Hiei decided he hated the stupid beach and sulked and wished there was a long stretch of clean coastline with nobody there so he could run and run for hours on end and he'd never have to pause for some stupid kid not looking where they were going. Instead, he sat in the shade uncomfortably crunched up and scowled into the sea.

He eventually realized he didn't see or know where Minamino was. He presumed he finally caught a moment and went to report what happened to Hiei to Sister Midori. Not caring, Hiei bowed his head, resting his forehead on his knees, and pretended the world didn't exist. Most of the world.

"Your sunburn has faded a bit, therefore the others' diagnosis was clearly presumptive," Minamino said. "Still, it is quite warm now. Care for something cool?" Hiei looked up and saw Minamino holding and offering a large vanilla ice cream cone in one hand, two glass bottles of orange creamsicle pop in his other.

"You can keep the soda," Hiei said, swiping up the ice cream cone. "I don't like anything tasting or smelling of oranges."

"Duly noted," Minamino said as he sat down beside him. He was close but not obtrusively edging into his personal bubble like Botan. Hiei noticed the many red streaks and even a few jagged lines of broken skin now marking his neck, shoulders, and arms. Hiei looked away in guilt as he realized in his blind panic he had scratched the hell out of Minamino.

Opening a soda bottle, Minamino sipped on his drink and said nothing. To Hiei's relief, he couldn't faintly smell any of the orange flavor. His nausea had just settled. And he rather wished to enjoy his ice cream.

"You did not fall out of a tree," Minamino at last said.

Hiei swallowed harshly. "…No."

He waited for Minamino to continue, to ask more, but he didn't. Minamino was quiet.

"How did you know?" Hiei asked, quirking an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Everyone has a tell," Minamino said. "And you are far too coordinated."

Out in the water, Keiko shrieked, covered her chest, and hid underwater as Yusuke, his hands in the air in innocence, swore he hadn't touched her bikini straps. She gasped in outrage and splashed him as he squinted at the water.

"Just because you know I lied doesn't mean I'm going to tell you what happened," Hiei said, peering haughtily away in a huff before returning to his melting cone.

"You have that right not to," was all Minamino said.

Of course, Hiei didn't have to say anything. He could if he wanted to but it wasn't like he had to tell Minamino the truth. Just because he was smart enough to figure out he was lying didn't mean Hiei had to reward him. Only if he wanted to tell him, of course. It wasn't like Minamino was going to turn around and tell everyone but he didn't have to tell him.

"…It hurt a lot," he grumbled. "When it happened."

"That would be a valid reason to not want to talk about it."

Botan helped Keiko, her top restored, drag Yusuke underwater and succeeded with Kuwabara's aid.

"Right," Hiei said, "because I don't."

And nothing more was said.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Shadowing, the_haunted_teaspoon, and Snow for commenting and to all the readers that gave kudos since the last chapter. Additional thanks to the_haunted_teaspoon for his/her lovely fanart of Kurama and Hiei on the beach. It was the first time I ever received fanart for a particular story and it was a wonderful surprise. Thank you. 
> 
> It really shouldn't have taken this long to update on this chapter as it did, seeing I had the majority of it written already, but it's Christmas time and time at home is a rare and precious occurrence for me right now and not all of that home time can be allotted to writing, much as I would like. Admittedly, I thought this chapter was going to be between 6,000 to max 8,000 words. It wound up being 11,000 words, due to expanding on Kurama's view and character far more than I had originally planned. Originally, the beach chapter(s) was going to be very Hiei-centric. Now it's more balanced between them.
> 
> Also, as I know I won't be updating again before Christmas, happy holidays to one and all and as always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: A rights owner to YYH certainly wouldn't be working in retail, now would they?

-o-

Chapter Twenty: Minamino Is Not Like The Others

-o-

Walking along the boardwalk, Kurama Minamino gazed out onto the beach, closed to the public but still accessible to hotel residents, and watched the high tide roll in and flood the coastline and thought yet again about how those same picturesque waves could have easily taken Hiei. The sun was setting, casting a red, rosy, and partially orange glow over the blue sky and darkened the white clouds with a purple hue. There was less than an hour of daylight left if he had to estimate. The first few twinkling stars were already shining above. Night would proceed and Hiei was nowhere to be immediately found.

He had slipped away not long after their short dinner—it was short in respects that by the time Kurama had excused himself from his eager to chat peers and joined him, Hiei had mostly finished eating and took off without a word. While Hiei was prone to such irascible moods, there was something more driving him away, something that required time and isolation, so Kurama covered for his unknown whereabouts to Sister Midori and let Hiei be. After watching him flail and panic in the water and endure their innocent classmates' well-meaning but no doubt pestering social interaction, it was no surprise Hiei wanted and needed solitude. Kurama knew well the need to recover and recompose oneself and was more than willing to wait.

The evening was turning muggy and stifling but every once in a while, there was a cool, wet breeze wafting in from the sea. He wished the temperature was more agreeable to half-sleeved shirts. It would have been much easier and quicker to excuse himself from his peers if he had been able to cover his scratches and red marks.

He caught sight again of the broken skin and dried blood of a thin but long scratch down the top of his arm. For what little time they had spent together at dinner, Kurama noted Hiei's many lingering glances at his many cuts and red marks. Hiei had no reason to feel guilty. He only vaguely recalled feeling pain from Hiei's nails digging into his shoulders and arms and the sting from saltwater washing over his cuts. His injuries had been inconsequential, however, to holding Hiei above water and treading back to shore.

Rethinking of Hiei's close drowning once more, he clenched his jaw tightly and scowled harshly out onto the empty beach.

Kurama had practiced and honed his absolute calm for many reasons, most of them for his own good. Few things ever ruffled him or weighed heavily on his mind for no particular reason. It took skill to separate, even isolate one's emotions from one's logic, to maintain composure and rationality in all situations but especially under duress. But when it came to watching Hiei gasp for air and tremble in his arms, to feel him grasp onto him like a life raft and then watch him an instant after writhe and push away from him, to prefer drowning to his aid, to Kurama knowing it was not by Hiei's own choice that he had come to be in the water in the first place, Kurama's anger and fear were bleeding through his absolute calm.

He regretted not expressing his displeasure more, for choosing not to make a scene and openly and publicly informing Yusuke and Kuwabara of the absolute _stupidity_ of their idea. There was harmless fun, yes, and then there were calculated risks with potential negative consequences and Yusuke and Kuwabara had certainly not taken in all possibilities into consideration. The proper moment to berate them on their asinine action was past but Kurama still wished to yell at them.

He paused on the boardwalk, the shops and vendors closed up for the night behind him, and stared out into the sea. Fleetingly, he wondered if his mother's idealistic, even naïve descriptions of Heaven being the kingdom of clouds, guardian angels and at peace loved ones were true. His six-year-old self, curled up in her arms, had readily believed her sweetly-murmured, milk and honey words, however now he could only list the inaccuracies, the false logic, the reality proven by science. The body was a machine powered by electrical pulses across nerves and synapses, by chemicals dictating growth, sleep, digestion, mental state, anything, everything. Death was the malfunction and breakdown of these layered, complex internal machines and beyond death, there was nothing. It was the end. If he had lost Hiei today, there would be no reunion in the afterlife. Their friendship would have ended right then and there, and they would not have grown closer.

Kurama swiftly and suddenly turned away from the sea and continued his search down the boardwalk.

Hiei leaving dinner in a morose huff was not entirely surprising or unjustified. A classmate had flagged Kurama down by rising from his seat and shouting at him while waving his arms over his head as if Kurama were a rescue ship passing by his deserted isle. He was impossible to ignore. Much as he rather head further across the room and join Hiei, he was forced into a tunnel by social courtesy and realized he had been pinned in as that same classmate enthusiastically revealed Kurama had saved Hiei from drowning, forcing Kurama to oblige his awe-struck admirers' insistence he divulge the full story. Though Hiei was certainly within earshot, none of Kurama's admirers had wished to include him in the retelling. No, they had been far too busy praising Kurama's heroics readily and only occasionally chided him on being far too modest in the wake of saving someone's life.

From the boardwalk, Kurama stepped out onto the beach and followed the coastline down to the rocky cliffs. Making his way up the hillside on the only traversable path, he eventually reached the jagged summit and observed Hiei gazing inattentively out onto the horizon.

"There is a sign a little ways down declaring this cliffside too dangerous for public access," Kurama said, his hands behind his back as he casually approached Hiei. "Which is precisely why I surmised I would locate you here."

"Are you really here because of Sister Midori's stupid buddy system?" Hiei remained facing the sea.

"No," he said, coming to stand beside Hiei. "I am simply following our social contract. You wished to be alone. I granted you that time. I wanted to know where you were so I found you. Now I can leave or remain. If I were to stay, we need not to say anything to one another. We can simply be in one another's presence."

Hiei looked over and scowled. "What if one of us finds that intolerable?"

"Amendments can be made. A conversation can be initiated…" Kurama proposed, a measure of cheer brightening his tone.

"Or?" Hiei asked.

A small smile peeked out across his lips. "If one of us preferred their absolute solace, it will be returned to them," Kurama said and then glanced over at Hiei. "Do you want me to leave?"

"…No," Hiei said, quickly darting his gaze to the other side. "Not yet."

Hiei was certainly far more composed than he had been at the beach or even earlier in the evening. He was far less brusque and agitated in his responses. Everything that had riled him at dinner earlier was clearly dealt with or set aside by now.

"So you stayed behind to work on your lab project?" Hiei said.

"It is the primary reason," Kurama replied. "That's not to say there were not other reasons of equal importance to my remaining at the Academy."

"I don't need you to entertain me," Hiei snapped back.

"I thought I would provide you the option of socializing," he said casually, his smile stretching out by inches, "should that whim strike you."

Hiei's upper lip wrinkled in disgust as he looked back out into the ocean. "You should've gone home."

"And who would you talk to?" Kurama asked. "Yusuke and Kuwabara did not stay. You would be alone at the Academy."

"Don't flatter yourself. I don't need to talk."

Kurama simply let his smile point out Hiei's little self-contradiction. Hiei growled and ended his brief eye contact with him in defiance and annoyance.

"What are you doing in the labs?" he asked quickly and sharply. "Are we all going to die?"

"Inevitably," Kurama said, "but not by the finished product of my testing and development."

"Which is?"

Kurama did not have long to decide whether or not to tell him or shirk the topic before his silence gave away his reluctance to reply. The fact that he was even considering telling Hiei was a curiosity in of itself. Side-waltzing the question or providing his fabricated response had always been his typical response but the only people who ever asked of his research were individuals—Father Akashi, Enma Daioh, Kaitou—he preferred remaining ignorant to the truth. Hiei, however, was not a hound hunting at his heels. He was a friend. He was someone he had willingly led behind the curtain, not someone who had snooped around or had to be led astray with smoke and mirrors.

Hiei breathed a harsh snort and scowled. "If you don't want to tell me—"

"Currently, I am in the development and testing phase of a biological solution that will in theory and hopefully in practice rejuvenate and reactivate cells and tissues even in the advance stages of decay."

Hiei seemed surprised. Whether it was the fact Kurama had told him the truth so suddenly and openly or whether the truth itself had taken him aback, he could not tell. "I know you're worshiped like a god," he said, eyes staying wide, "but I never thought you wanted to be God."

"In no manner do I wish to become God, I merely wish to provide a means of diminishing suffering. Too often He takes good, innocent people away too soon for unfair, even unjustified reasons."

Kurama wondered if he should be worried at Hiei's surprise. He had been honest but he had also come to terms long before he jotted his first note that the truth of his research was, in polite terms, madness. His research was the subject of science fiction, of Lovecraftian horror. It was pseudoscience, not the sort scientists laughed and shook their heads in disbelief over the poor misguided beliefs of the era but the sort of research and testing the scientific community had burned, buried underground, and salted the earth over, vowing to never speak of and uphold absolute denial that such experiments were ever conducted. Kurama had protected the exact details of his research precisely to avoid accusations of insanity and heresy. The truth of his endeavors could possibly negatively alter Hiei's perception of him. He hoped not, he wished not—losing Hiei's friendship was a far more unbearable consequence than enduring damnations of blasphemy.

"You know you're going to create the patient zero and bring about the zombie apocalypse upon all of humanity, but then you'd have plenty of test material, I guess," Hiei said. Unfortunately, there was no shift at all in his tone to indicate to Kurama whether he disagreed with or was repulsed by his research's intent.

"Typically the mad scientist is first to die at their creation's hand," Kurama said, counting on humor to guide and gauge Hiei's reaction. "There is always a second doctor that vows to right the ills and wrongs of their predecessor."

"Not if you started here. Undead or not, the Academy would still bend to you." His nose creased in disgust. "Their mental states are a grade above zombie as is."

Kurama put on a smile. "Hiei, I have no intention of forming my own zombie army, nor will I turn everyone at the Academy, much as you may fancy the notion."

"Will implies that you could but choose not to. You really are a mad scientist," Hiei smirked. "At least when you damn the world, own up to your creation, Victor."

The reference was not lost on Kurama. Though not as familiar with the novel as Hiei, Kurama had at one time had read _Frankenstein_ , along with many other classic works.

"Do you believe me then?" Kurama asked, deciding directness would be most sufficient and preferred. "You are not simply using dark humor to diffuse your disgust?"

"I believe you," Hiei said. "You want to ease suffering. You want to cure death or at least provide a means of eluding it. You want to toss God a middle finger. That last one, I agree with."

"You won't succeed," he immediately added. "You can't diminish suffering any more than you can diminish greed, happiness, or wrath. People suffer. They are driven by it. They inflict it. Some feed on it. It exists. Death exists. It's just how it is and no matter how great the world sees you, you won't be able to remake the world in your image as you see fit. You'll try but you'll fail."

"You deem it pointless but not mad?" Kurama said.

"Oh, you're crazy," Hiei replied, a smile stretching through his smug smirk. "There's not a shred of fiction out there that ever shows anyone driven to reverse death as a perfectly normal, law-abiding, nice guy you want to have over for drinks and parties. You've got something twisted up there. I just don't give a damn what you do."

Cutting through the roar of the rolling sea came two voices, a boy and a girl's. Kurama looked and Hiei gave a fleeting glance and saw it was Yusuke and Keiko walking along the coastline. They seemed to be chatting pleasantly.

"Nothing will come from your madness," Hiei said. "But if something does, you'll wind up dead, beyond reasoning, or worshiped, all three of which are likely to happen to you even without your mad science. The fact that you want to cheat death doesn't shock me. You're vain as the sea is deep. But only if you actually succeed will I be surprised and equally disappointed that even God relents to your whim."

"I am glad the truth has not repulsed you," Kurama said, pouring gratitude into his gentle eyes and smile. "You are the only one that knows or has seen what I have done."

At that, Hiei met eyes with Kurama, uncomfortably looked away, looked back just as quickly, and then finally averted his gaze altogether and haughtily crossed his arms across his chest and gave a short grunt in response. "You're doing your own grave-robbing when that phase comes, you know that," he said in a huff. "Unless you need Iwamoto's fresh corpse."

Keiko's giggling cut over the surf as Yusuke wrapped his arms around her and drew her in. Briefly, she buried her smile in the crook of his neck and shoulder before looking up as he leaned in and met his lips halfway as the surf surged and splattered over the back of their legs.

"You going to build your lab in an ancient Gothic castle, preferably in a country with overly-frequent dark and stormy nights?" Hiei asked.

"A moat will be required and crocodiles to occupy and guard said moat," Kurama considered aloud, his tone inviting further suggestions.

Hiei snorted in disbelief. "Like you couldn't cross-breed a genetically-mutated hellspawn fish yourself…" He smiled darkly. "I vote for the vampire squid crossed with a deep-sea anglerfish and throw in a bit of that Amazon fish that swims up the urethra. That'll really deter your fan club."

Kurama's chest and shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. "Hiei…" he asked and smiled much too chipper for his own good, "…do you want to be my Igor?"

"You want to find out how brittle and unstable this cliff's edges are?" Hiei snapped back, his glare and voice level and sharp.

"Sorry, could not resist," Kurama replied innocently as he pressed his lips tightly close.

"That character doesn't even exist in the novel."

"Yes, but he is a feature of the cinema mythos and popular culture," Kurama said.

"Popularity ruins everything," Hiei grumbled.

-o-

Hiei and Minamino remained standing on the cliff, gazing out onto the sea, and occasionally struck up a conversation for some time, at least until Minamino suggested they head back before Sister Midori's nine o'clock curfew and subsequent attendance check. Neither one wished a search party cobbled together and sent scouring across the beach for Minamino.

Sitting on his chosen bed and debating on whether or not to raid the tiny kitchen specializing only in continental breakfast for doughnuts, muffins, or at least a sugary cereal after the hotel vending machines proved to be far sturdier and newer-conditioned than the rickety, worn ones at the Academy, Hiei flipped through tv channels and spiked the volume as Minamino washed off sea salt and sand on the other side of a thin bathroom wall. Nothing on tv grabbed away his interest and when he noticed the silence of the showerhead, he shut it off and grabbed the library's copy of _Frankenstein_ from the foot of the bed.

Incidentally, Hiei had opened up at an early point in the novel and skimmed over passages of the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, frequenting vaults and charnel houses in the pursuit of science. He amused himself imagining Minamino as his modern incarnation frequenting hospital morgues and funeral homes, scouring the obituaries in the morning, and stalking cemeteries for new materials. While Hiei still believed there had to be a measure of madness in anyone that tried to reverse death at any stage of decay, he was also sure Minamino wasn't one thrown switch and a crack of lightning from cackling "It's alive!". Minamino was reasonable, sometimes too reasonable.

Shower complete, Minamino left the bathroom already changed into his nightclothes, shaking a towel through his damp hair. Hiei hadn't washed off but had changed into a pair of boxer shorts and a sleeveless undershirt. Eyes tracing the long scar on his left leg, he wished he had brought some sweatpants instead. He drew his legs in close.

Once it was as dry as it would get, Minamino combed and put to order his disheveled puffball with Hiei not necessarily watching him, just that his gaze was drawn back over to him again and again when his fluttering, glossy locks hit the lamp light just right. His focus was restored once Minamino sat down at the small table with his light purple backpack in hand and began sorting out his research notes as the light sea breeze wafted in from the open window. And then Minamino sneezed yet again. He sneezed even after he closed the window.

"Ah, excuse me," Minamino said after yet another sneeze. "Strange, I have never reacted to household allergens before. There must be something in the air..."

"Either that or your admirers are whipping a gossip storm about you," Hiei said, without looking up from his book.

"I should be sneezing all the time if that were the case," Minamino said, flashing a smile, as he rubbed his throat.

Hiei rolled his eyes, not in disbelief but at the fact Minamino was right.

While Hiei had spent time in Minamino's dorm room before, he had never stayed in the room. There was always a point in the afternoon or night that Hiei left, usually involving Kaitou's return. More often than not, Minamino also left with his homework but always his research and they resumed their arrangement in the labs. Hiei wouldn't leave this room. This was his room and it was Minamino's, and they would sleep in the same room and, as simple and normal as that was, Hiei was still uncomfortable with the idea. He was far more comfortable with temporarily visiting Minamino's space, not inhabiting. He preferred walls between them. He liked having his space and Minamino having his own.

As Minamino steadily recorded notes, thoughts, and what Hiei presumed were theories to test back at the lab past midnight, Hiei turned over and pretended to sleep. If he stayed awake long enough, if he pushed himself to exhaustion, perhaps he would sleep soundly and without dreaming. Because much as he hated waking screaming and thrashing with Kuwabara in the room, he certainly didn't want to wake up from a nightmare with Minamino at his bedside.

In the dark and with Minamino having long since gone to bed as well, Hiei woke up, eyes snapping open, and lay paralyzed and lost between the nightmarish haze and consciousness. Slowly but surely, as he gained control over his quickened breath, he slowed his breath and the dimly lit wall beside Hiei little by little came into view. He knew he wasn't where he was in the dream but he didn't know where he was. In time, he turned over and told himself to remember.

He saw he was in a room that was familiar but not familiar. He vaguely recalled leaving the Academy and staying at a hotel by the beach. He looked around and saw a second bed. There was someone in it and it wasn't Kuwabara.

 _Who the hell is—_ and then more of the mental haze lifted, _Kurama_. Hiei groaned softly as he rubbed his eyes and pieces of clarity returned to him. He was in a hotel room with Kurama Minamino. Fine. It was better than where he was, wherever that had been—Hiei couldn't recall a specific memory and figured it was one of those ill-defined dreams where he only felt the impressions of looming terror and threats of pain.

At least, he hadn't screamed.

Hiei looked at the digital alarm clock and saw it was forty-five minutes past four in the morning. Most students and probably Sister Midori too would sleep in a while longer, probably wouldn't get up until seven at the earliest. Knowing Minamino stayed to a prompt and early schedule, Hiei wondered if he would sleep in too. Hiei smirked. His programming probably didn't allow him to.

Getting up and changing into the same clothes he wore out on the beach yesterday, Hiei left the room and headed out onto the empty, dark shore.

-o-

It was ten minutes past seven by the time Hiei returned from his run along the beach and Minamino was still asleep. Hiei showered, changed, stole all the doughnuts and the cinnamon sugar apple muffins from the breakfast bar and Minamino still had not stirred from his sleep. Hiei turned on the tv, put it on the news, and raised the volume slightly in hopes of annoying him out of his perfect rest and still he didn't so much as flutter the blankets.

Of course, Hiei could just let Minamino sleep in but even he knew there was something wrong with his lack of response. Minamino sleeping in was like Hiei losing a race, it just didn't happen. He thought about dumping a cup of water on his face but there were certain lines Hiei didn't cross. That and he was pretty sure his hair would drink it up like a parched plant.

"Get up," Hiei ordered the lump of blanket cocooning Minamino. "You'll miss breakfast and I'm not bringing you anything if that's what you're playing at. Wake up already."

Aside from the steady rise and fall of his chest indicating his breath, there was no other sign of life beneath the covers.

"Come on, Minamino. _Get up!_ "

He wasn't about to shake him awake but he was willing to pull the covers away. Pinching the top of the blanket, he gradually dragged the covers away, revealing a sleeping Minamino, his face flushed, shaking, and noticeably breathing through his mouth.

"Minamino?" Hiei said, lowering his voice. "Minamino? …Kurama?"

Awakening, he opened his eyes partially and raised his head slightly. Essentially he offered a listening ear, but Hiei wasn't sure he was all there to listen. A second after he saw him, Hiei realized what was wrong and slid the covers right back over his head.

Back down at the breakfast bar as the rest of the class and hotel guests began to gather and after he had fished through the small plastic bottles of milk for a cold one, Hiei waited impatiently behind a German businessman to stop arguing with the other muffins about why there were no cinnamon sugar apple muffins.

"Good morning, Hiei. Sleep well?" Sister Midori chimed in behind him in line as Hiei finally reached the muffin bar once more. He offered her a wordless grumble in response.

"Minamino not up yet?" she asked. "How strange…"

"He's quarantined," Hiei said, deciding to get two blueberry and a glazed lemon poppy seed muffin, ignoring the bran muffins because no one liked bran. "I'm pretty sure he's contagious."

Sister Midori's eyes and many of their surrounding classmates' eyes widened in alarm. "Eh? What happened?" she asked. "Never mind. I'll check on him immediately."

"Something happened to Minamino?" a girl asked, her eyes and voice brimming with worry.

"Told you something would," another girl, the same one that had prayed for Minamino's safety the day before, grumbled and glared at Hiei.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry over," Sister Midori assured.

"His brain overheated," Hiei explained without an ounce of emotion. "Started pouring out of his ears. He'll be a vegetable for the rest of his life, what remains of it. Won't be long until the sections regulating his autonomic functions liquefy and fail."

"T-That can happen?" a boy panicked and stuttered as the other fearful admirers fretted over Minamino's deteriorating health. "And it's contagious?"

"Don't worry, it only affects people that use their brains," Hiei said. "You're all immune."

"Hiei…" Sister Midori sharply said, shaking her head and frowning in disapproval.

Hiei looked back at the crowd of Minamino's hurt and concerned admirers and sighed begrudgingly. "Relax. It's just a cold. You're all fine."

The news of their sick savior nonetheless sparked a firestorm of whispered worry and murmured condolences among Minamino's flock.

"Oh, poor, Minamino…" one girl whined.

"Yea, colds can be nasty," another nodded in agreement.

"They're still contagious," a boy said.

"You'll be fine," Hiei growled in assurance.

"It's just a little cold then?" a girl asked, no doubt hopeful to see him.

"How should I know?" Hiei said, at his limit of Minamino's admirers' idiotic concern. It was a cold, damn it, not necrosis or any other terminal disease or infection. "Not like any of you will catch it. Idiots can't catch colds."

Sister Midori reprimanded him as she followed him and Hiei overheard Minamino's admirers' grumblings and insults. He ignored her insistences that he be nicer to his classmates and that they were only concerned for Minamino too. It was very unfortunate for anyone to get sick during this trip, after all.

As Sister Midori headed back to her room to pick up her glorified first-aid kit, Hiei returned his room and found Kurama sitting up in bed gazing with far too much interest and his mouth slightly ajar at the left-on tv turned to the weather station. He was particularly drawn to the many moving colored lines and arrows indicating air pressure and wind direction as the smooth-voiced weatherman talked _very_ slowly and very fluidly about the future precipitation chances over the coming week.

"Here. Food. Milk," Hiei said, setting the napkin of muffins and his milk on the wide bedside table. "Eat it at some point. Like when you're competent to stand trial again."

Minamino didn't take his eyes off the moving arrows, now joined with splotches of green with the occasional yellow and red blots too. Hiei would've brought him a styrofoam bowl of Cheerios if he didn't think Kurama would start swearing the oat rings were writing messages to him.

Sister Midori came by, examined Minamino, discovered he had a raised fever, and deemed he had cold, possibly the flu. As she instructed him on the steps to take and precautions to make while he was sick and asked multiple times if he understood what she was saying, Hiei flashed his eyes up in disbelief.

"You're wasting your time talking to him," Hiei said. "He has no idea where he is right now."

Sister Midori blinked in surprise. "How can you tell?"

Again, Hiei threw his eyes upward in annoyance. He brought his hand close to Kurama's face and snapped his fingers until he finally got his attention. He held up the milk bottle and asked, "Kurama, what is this?"

He was staring at the cutesy picture of a happy cartoon cow on the milk carton as if he was having a telepathic conversation with it. Finally, Hiei heard what sounded like a raspy 'moo' before that soft sound broke into a coughing fit.

Hiei turned to Midori and stared at her.

The sister awkwardly forced a smile. "Oh dear, he must be slightly delirious. We'll keep an eye on him but it's best he sleeps as much as he wants. I'll bring him some medicine within the hour." She set a box of tissues from her first-aid box on the bedside table and left.

Hiei wondered if observation was the best course of action. Minamino was…out of it. He was barely aware of the present. The brightest mind in the entire Academy was so feverish he probably couldn't figure out his left from his right. But apparently his temperature wasn't high enough to worry over. Then again, Sister Midori wasn't a doctor either.

"Catching a cold in the middle of summer, never can be like the rest of us, can you?" Hiei said, as he ripped off the heavy top blanket off his bed and tossed it over him. It wasn't like he needed to stay warm in the summer heat and watching Minamino sit up in bed shivering was annoying.

The blanket rustled and ruffled and shifted directions as Kurama searched for an opening like a dolphin trapped in a fishing net. Just as Hiei thought Minamino would never find his way out, a fluffy red lock of hair poked out and Kurama sat cozily wrapped up in blankets with only his face peeking out from his plush hood. At least he wasn't noticeably shivering anymore. And then he started coughing, rounding out his fit with a wet sneeze. At least he had the mind and coordination to grab the tissues beforehand.

Hiei groaned low in his throat as he walked with his library book in hand and perched himself in the windowsill. Hearing Minamino's blankets rustle far more than they should, Hiei peered over the top of his book and saw Kurama stagger to the bathroom and heard him wash his hands and face. Hiei groaned once more. There was no scenario in which Kurama Minamino would be anything but a pain today. It wasn't like Hiei would've preferred spending another day out on the surf but he certainly didn't want to baby-sit Minamino either.

 _I'm not taking care of him. He better not think that I will,_ Hiei thought, glancing over at a once again wrapped up Minamino as he pulled apart and munched on the glazed lemon poppy seed muffin bit by bit. _It's his own stupid fault he got sick. Overworked himself, can't say no, surrounded himself with morons, it's no wonder he caught_ something _._

"Instead of fighting death, cross off a cure for the common cold first," Hiei said wryly as he averted his stare quickly as Kurama licked the stuck crumbs and lemon glaze off his fingertips. "Bet you thought it was too inferior, wouldn't offer you enough recognition, and now it's knocked you on your ass. Figures."

Hearing a knock on their heavy hotel door, Hiei looked back up from his book and glared with a mix of anger, surprise, and disbelief at the door. He was hoping Sister Midori was already back with medicine but seeing how ten minutes had yet to pass since she left, he doubted it was her. Nonetheless, Hiei stomped over and opened the door, not fully but enough to see who it was.

"Oh, hi, um, can I see Minami—" one of his female admirers said quickly before Hiei slammed the door in her face and almost caught her hand in the doorway.

"Tell the others they can piss off too," Hiei shouted. "There's no way in hell I'm opening this door."

Hiei turned around and headed back to his windowsill in a huff. Out from his side view, he noticed Kurama's gaze following his steps. Hiei growled through his clenched teeth, looked at Minamino, and shouted, "What?"

"…Thank you," Kurama replied hoarsely and through heavy congestion.

Hiei looked away in discomfort, feeling his anger finally rise to and redden the surface of the cheeks. He gave a brusque 'hn' in response and marched back to the windowsill without another word.

It wasn't as if he cared whether Minamino's admirers disturbed him all day—he would've been fine with it if he wasn't stuck as his roommate and he didn't have to be pestered by the endless, concerned, well-wishing admirers itching to line up at his door right alongside him. Of course, Hiei was sure any one of his female admirers would be happy to nurse him back to health and he wouldn't end up stuck doing it himself—not like he was going to, of course, but if somehow he unfortunately did have to, he was sure some girl would take his place. Hiei just didn't want to be ignored in the room and have to listen to their never-ending sickeningly-sweet cooing and coddling over him.

Actually, Hiei realized quickly that a sniffling, sick Kurama Minamino did have its benefits. He talked a lot less and he was real easy to distract, though after the weather station moved onto massive storm survivor stories and Minamino grew paranoid in his delirium, Hiei found a nature show with another calm, measured voice, this time British, to occupy his overheated mind. The irritating trade-off was that while he rarely spoke, he coughed persistently and when he wasn't coughing, he was sneezing. About half an hour later, Sister Midori came by with a bottle of cold and cough medicine, administered Minamino a dosage, and promised to promptly issue another later on and hoped he felt better soon.

The heat of the high noon sun woke Hiei up. He pulled his cheek away from the glass window and waited until the daze dispersed. By the clock's reading, he had dozed off for no more than an hour and Minamino was still asleep. He had laid down not long after taking his medicine and eventually fell asleep—Hiei wasn't sure on when as he had started reading some of the interpretations and literary analysis papers in the back of the library's copy of _Frankenstein_ , some he found interesting, others worthy of a chuckle.

He guessed Minamino had been sleeping for at least four hours. Sister Midori had come by earlier and checked his temperature by touch, not wishing to wake him. She had came back moments later with an ice bucket filled with cold water and clinking ice cubes. Hiei had watched her as she soaked and wrung out a washcloth, dabbed his fever-flushed face and finally laid the resoaked and rewrung, folded washcloth on his forehead. That was definitely more than a couple of hours ago and the washcloth didn't look damp anymore.

Hiei waited. Maybe if he waited long enough, Sister Midori would check on Minamino again. He tried to read in the meantime, but the room was so quiet he could hear Minamino's faint whine at the end of his exhale as he breathed through his mouth. Even if he turned on the tv to drown him out, Hiei still knew the sound was there. So he read and listened and held out for Sister Midori to come in and then he finally slid off the windowsill, poured out the ice bucket filled with no ice and tepid water in the bathroom sink, made a trip down to the ice machine, and came back and filled the bucket with the coldest water the tap could produce. When the easy part was over, so began the standing and staring.

He stood by Minamino's bedside, his eyes fixated on the folded washcloth resting on his forehead. He wondered if he should check and see if he still had a fever. Sure, touching his forehead wasn't the standard medical procedure to diagnosing a fever but it would give him some indication, he guessed. He picked up a corner of the washcloth, pinched between his thumb and index as if it were Kuwabara's boxer shorts, and dropped it into the ice bucket. Now he just had to check his temperature. It wouldn't take much, he reminded himself. He just had to lay the back of his hand on his forehead and see if he could fry an egg on it, nothing more.

Then why were his hands shaking? Hiei could endure touch. He could mentally prepare himself for the inevitability of contact and brace himself accordingly, even though readying himself never lessened the sharp stab that sparked across the point of contact. He didn't need to rush to assess and gauge Minamino's (or any other person's) course of action. He was in control. He knew what he was doing and what he had to do. Just one touch, that was all it was. One little touch.

He clenched and unclenched his hand and bit his bottom lip in uncertainty as an entire spider web of knots formed and tangled themselves in one another in the pit of his stomach. One voice in his head told him he was being stupid, that his breath was quickening and his mind racing over nothing, that there was no reason to panic and yet he was. The other voice was shouting from his tiny mental bunker and initiating every alarm and deterrent to get him to stop, cease action, not do it.

His hand was unsteady as he hovered it above Minamino's forehead and flipped it over. Hiei tried to draw his hand closer, lowering it by centimeters every other breath, but finally the prickling was too much, too burrowing through his skin and he pulled his hand away with more than a foot gap separating him from Minamino. He turned his hand over and saw a bright red, bumpy stress rash had flared across the back of his hand.

It was just a simple touch, one press of his skin to his, and Hiei couldn't go through it. He stood staring at Minamino with his jaw so tightly clenched his jaw quivered. A whole sea of emotions churned through him—anger, disappointment, residual panic and fear, relief, disbelief, doubt. Two conflicting sides clashed and contradicted one another within him. It was as if Hiei was trying to bring together two shards of rock from two different boulders and no amount of banging and smashing them together was going to make their fracture lines align and come perfectly together.

Because as much as Hiei was not physically attracted to Kurama Minamino, he was drawn to him. Even now as Minamino lay sick, his nose red and runny, his eyes achy and watery, and not even his above average features could improve and shine through the disgusting, dull pallor of an assertive cold and yet Hiei couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he wasn't lying there sick, if he was his usual impeccable, perfect self sleeping, the picture of warmth and comfort, his hair fanned out across his pillow, a stray lock curled against his cheek, his lips slightly parted…

There it was, the ache, the tug of war between two directions, the clacking, grating stones pummeling into one another, the push and pull away and toward him. It was maddening in both senses of the word. Hiei had never wanted to be close to anyone. He reviled the idea and belittled the primal-minded, hormone-addled star-crossed lovers constantly holed up in one study corner or another. Hiei had never so much wanted to caress a finger across someone else's hand, much less indulge the ridiculous idea of wanting to be another's arms, to be held, to feel another's physical presence. As far as Hiei considered, there was little else more disgusting than kissing—listening to the Academy's plentiful slurp sessions was enough to turn Hiei's stomach.

And yet Minamino was not like the others.

Sharply, Hiei turned his back toward Minamino and dove his hands into the ice bucket, the coldness stinging against his inflamed rash, as he thoroughly soaked the washcloth. Once it was good and cold, he wrung it out, stuck a few small ice cubes in-between the folds for good measure, and plopped the fancy rag right back on his forehead. If he had a fever, the cold would be a welcoming relief and if he didn't, it would be an uncomfortable irritation easily reminded by waking the hell up and taking off the washcloth. Either possibility was fine with Hiei.

Picking up the library's perpetually checked-out copy of _Frankenstein_ from the windowsill and sliding across the small table, Hiei sat down in one of the chairs, specifically the one directly across from Minamino, put his feet on the table, and continued watching over Minam—reading, he was reading. In fact, he was going to see if he could beat his single read record time and the only reason he ever looked up from his book from then on was to check his time on the clock. He wasn't checking in on Minamino. His face just happened to be in his line of sight, that was all.

-o-

Somewhere beneath unfamiliar sheets and blankets, Kurama Minamino stirred. His face felt warm from the heat of his own breath insulated under the covers but the fact that he could readily distinguish and deduce the source of the heat proved to him that his fever had broken. It didn't feel like much of an improvement, given his other symptoms reducing him to the mobility and abundant slime production of a slug, though at least he no longer possessed the mental speed and awareness of a gastropod as well.

He drew away the covers from over his head, was momentarily blinded by the brightness of the room, sat up, and wrapped the second blanket around his shoulders simply because it felt good to be cocooned. He soon realized the second blanket had come from Hiei's bed.

"Good morning," he said, fighting the irritating tickle in his throat urging him to cough, as he pulled the loose cover corners closer around him.

"It's past two," Hiei said without looking up from his book. He sat nearby at the small table, leaning the chair back onto its back legs and setting his feet on the table.

Kurama looked over at the clock. "So it is," he said.

"You haven't slept in that long," Hiei said, idly turning the page. "You've been on and off awake. Aware is another matter."

"Indeed," Kurama said, brushing the stray hairs away from his achy eyes. "It all seems like one sprawling, patchwork dream."

"…How much do you recall?" Hiei asked, actually peering up from his book with marked attention.

"I do not remember much and what little I do is disjointed and hazy," Kurama replied. "I recall a lot of movement and color and onion ring-tailed lemurs prowling for scrambled eggplant with a thirty percent chance of precipitation in the African spice rub highlands."

Tired of weather reports and educational animal safaris, Hiei had also turned the tv to a cooking show network for a little while to occupy him, he explained.

"Anything else?" Hiei asked.

"No, not really," Kurama said. "Should I?"

"No," Hiei said hastily and promptly returned to his book. "Nothing happened. Sister Midori took care of you and your disciplines keep trying to make their pilgrimages, that's all."

"Busy morning, I presume then?" Kurama said and right on cue, there was a knock on their door.

Hiei shot him a glance that said he definitely didn't even need to ask before turning his gaze toward the door and shouting, "Piss off."

The knocking stopped just for few seconds and then returned more boisterous and jarring than ever. It was pretty obvious there was more than one set of fists punching the door. It was also obvious as to who was at the door. Kurama smiled through his disbelieving sigh as Hiei cursed underneath his breath.

"Come on, Hiei. It's us," Yusuke shouted, his voice muffled. Not like he had needed to tell him, Hiei had pretty much figured out it was him already. "Fine, the password is swordfish, open sesame, cupcakes, whatever. Let us in."

Hiei wasn't leaving his chair. Meeting his stare, Kurama tipped his head to the side in a 'go-ahead' manner. Hiei growled low in his throat as he got up and stomped petulantly to the door. The idiots greeted him with their equally stupid grins.

"Wow, Minamino, you look like crap," Kuwabara said, teasing. "Anything we can get you?"

"Yea, like a paper bag to hide your face?" Yusuke added.

Kurama laughed softly, burying his mouth into a blanket as his laughter gave way to coughing. "I do not plan on leaving the room so I doubt that will be needed. Thank you for your consideration, however."

"Seems like a good plan," Yusuke said, as he and Kuwabara began unloading their armfuls of snack cakes and candy bars and whatnot out on the edge of Hiei's bed. "Wouldn't want to get your head blown off for someone mistaking you for a zombie."

"The hell is that?" Hiei asked, eyes wide and already selecting his choice share, which simply equated to all of it at this point.

"Found it outside your door," Yusuke explained. "They're just leaving stuff for Kurama. Get Well presents, I guess."

"There's even more outside. Looks like they emptied a vending machine for you," Kuwabara said. "And there's stuffed animals and cards and stuff but most of it's food. Kind of weird to see in the middle of the hallway."

"Appears to be their only option," Kurama said. "There have been plentiful visits from students but Hiei has refused to allow them inside. All they can do is leave their offerings at the door."

"So Hiei's been with you all day..." Yusuke said, peering over his shoulder and smirking at Hiei as he carried in four-pack after four-pack of cupcakes, boxes of candy, gift baskets. "How's our patient, _Nurse_?"

"Use your eyes. He hasn't changed all day," Hiei replied brusquely, rummaging through and separating the useful stuff like the tissues and honey lemon cough drops from a basket also stuffed with nasty, fresh oranges and useless bottles of orange juice. "Widen that snot trail down his face and you've got my whole morning."

Kurama bowed his head sheepishly and grabbed a couple tissues.

"Ever think on a hot day like this you'd be holed up hacking and blowing your head off?" Yusuke asked, smirking, as he sat down on the corner of Hiei's bed.

"Viruses do not recognize temporal seasons, though on the whole contracting a cold is more prevalent in winter months. But as long as the right conditions are met, it is not impossible."

"Not to mention being Kurama Minamino makes you just that special," Yusuke said, still grinning.

"Hardly," Kurama said, flashing a polite smile. "I know the conditions and factors that attributed to my ill state. Had I not been foolhardy in believing youth would shield my immune system from fatigue and deprivation, I might be elsewhere today."

"I know it's a stretch but in a way, Hiei's rumor that your brain overheated is kinda true then."

Eyebrow raised in a questioning slant, Kurama looked over at Hiei and said, "A rumor?"

"Your fan club asked a stupid question. I gave a sardonic answer. It's not my fault they believed that answer," Hiei replied. "You'll be a vegetable for the rest of your short life, by the way."

Kurama stifled his laughter. "In all follow-up questions, I'd like to be a rutabaga then," he said, sporting an amused smile.

"I'd consider you more of an asparagus but whatever," Hiei replied.

"Urameshi, what's going on here?" Kuwabara asked not at all under his breath. "And why do I feel weirded out?"

"We're seeing something that does not regularly happen in nature," Yusuke leaned over and replied. "Hiei's getting along with another human being."

Kurama simply smiled while he watched Hiei's jaw muscle tighten.

"Ugh, gives me the creeps," Kuwabara said, grabbing hold of his arms and pretending to shiver. "Like watching one of those two-headed goats conjoined at the face."

"Yea, one night in the same room and they're already thinking on the same wavelength," Yusuke said, his smile stretching into a smirk. "A few more hours from now they'll be finishing each other sentences like an old married couple."

As Yusuke and Kuwabara looked up at the ceiling and no doubt imagined them both playing stereotypical husband and wife roles, Hiei growled through his bared teeth. "The expression is bickering like an old married couple and that's more apt to you two fools. Not far from your silver anniversary, aren't you?"

"Maybe, but we make it work," Yusuke replied, earning a confused glare from Kuwabara. "We all can't be as lucky as you and married for looks." As he looked over and gave Kurama's cold-battered face a cursory once-over, Yusuke added, "…Most of the time."

Eventually, after a few more trips, through light conversation sparked with playful insults meant to amuse and rile up one another, particularly Hiei, Hiei finally brought in the last of their classmates' offerings.

"Minamino didn't even ask for any of this. They just started giving to him," Kuwabara said, mouth agape as he surveyed the spread amassed on the table that spread to the chairs and continued onto the combination dresser drawers and tv table.

"You think we could get free pizza if we started a rumor that tomato sauce was good for colds?" Yusuke spoke aloud, earning a reprimanding glare from Kuwabara. "What? Don't go high and mighty on me. You were thinking of it too."

"I doubt our peers will successfully give in to your ploy, Yusuke, " Kurama replied.

Hiei turned his head and stared at Kurama. "Not even you believe that lie," he said dully.

Yusuke chuckled through his grin. "Hey, Kurama, why haven't you weaponized this ungodly power of yours? You'd think it would be sweet to ask and instantly receive…"

Out of the corner of his eye, Kurama saw Hiei's glare sharpen in offense. He found his reaction…curious.

"And you believe I would never be obligated to return such gratitude?" Kurama said. "While I do believe there is charity in the world, I find such the gifts and the people who provide them are of the self-serving variety, rather than altruistic. There is always a reason, a motive, a string attached and enough strings wrapped around the neck will strangle anyone."

"Yeah…" Yusuke replied with a confused, creeped out look on his face expressing how little he understood his answer and his wonder at how in the hell Kurama easily slipped in wire strangulation in his reply. "That would empty your wallet real quick too. Hell, I can barely scrap enough to get Keiko something okay on her birthday. Hate to have to shell out for the whole damn Academy."

Yusuke and Kuwabara stayed and talked for another half an hour until Sister Midori came to give Kurama another dosage of cold medicine and insisted they leave, both to minimize exposure but more importantly to allow Kurama ample time to rest and recover and prevent him from overtaxing himself, to which Yusuke smarted off and said that sitting around, talking to him, and watching him blow his nose was real stressful. Nonetheless, they headed out not long after.

"Here, get rid of this," Hiei said, shoving a gift basket of fresh oranges, orange juice, and orange-flavored cupcakes and soda into Kuwabara's arms.

"But it's Minamino's?" Kuwabara said, blinking and staring down at Hiei in confusion. "Oranges are good for colds."

From his bed and with Hiei's back facing him, Kurama could not see Hiei's expression but given the ghostly, dreaded pallor that suddenly glazed across Kuwabara's face, he could surmise a take-it-or-I-will-bury-you-alive intent was conveyed. Kuwabara then tightly held onto the basket as if it was very precious and life-extending.

"It is fine, Kuwabara. You can have it," Kurama said gently and watched the tension slowly lessen in Kuwabara's grip upon receiving his permission. "Vitamin C will not actually shorten the length of a cold as much as marketing proclaims."

"…Uh, okay," he said and then as he headed out grabbed a small bottle of orange juice and drank half of it down in one gulp. Yusuke, having pocketed three bottles of orange soda and the cupcakes already, raised his hand, grasping a pilfered orange, in goodbye and promised to come back later, hopefully with free pizza.

While Kurama simply smiled and shook his head in playful wonder at the other half of their familiar quartet, Hiei groaned in mild exasperation as he claimed his bed for himself once more and tore into a box of chocolate Pocky, rapidly biting into and demolishing each biscuit stick as cleanly and effortlessly as a saw blade sliced through timber on the processing line. He paused only to turn on the tv, still left on the cooking show network so it appeared. Kurama rarely watched television and didn't mind if Hiei wished to watch something, though nothing ever caught his attention for more than six seconds.

Unsurprisingly, and the fact of which amused Kurama greatly, Hiei did show marked interest in the confectionary baking competition that was on. He half-watched the tv, half-observed Hiei watching the tv while surrounded in a small, gradually-vanishing ring of sweet treats that was just the tip of the amassed collection piled about their hotel room until the cold medicine's noted drowsiness took effect and then there was a lot of noise and color and he was pretty sure he was a chibi fox playing in a box and it was the greatest box in the world because it could be anything he imagined it to be…

-o-

Not that the tv volume was abnormally loud or anything but after the candy-making contest and cupcake competition show came and went, a regular cooking show began and so went Hiei's interest. He dropped the volume until the sound was little more than a murmur in the background. He would've turned the television off but he did kind of want to see how the competing chefs ruined perfectly fine peanut butter cups with their lamb chops and couscous.

Minamino had nodded off a few minutes after Hiei started watching the first baking show—Hiei had looked over and saw him sitting up asleep, his head tipped over to one side and his cheek mashed against his shoulder. He was also faintly snoring and, no doubt caused by his inability to breathe through his nose, he was also wetting the corner of the covers with drool. He had semi-woke up at the second commercial break, laid down more comfortably, and promptly resumed his sick-induced hibernation.

Kurama had turned over onto his left side, leaving Hiei with only the view of his sprawling, glossy, fluffy, tarantula hair. He could still faintly hear a whistling whine of a snore. Soft as it was, it was going to be a hell of a pain in the ear in the night's silence. It wasn't that Hiei was listening for or concentrating on the sound. It was simply and unequivocally annoying. Like an intermittent muted dog toy's squeak.

Gathering his torn wrappers and boxes and sliding off the bed, Hiei tossed his trash and stepped into the bathroom. After scrutinizing the bathtub's vague plumbing layout for a moment and accidentally soaking himself with a short rain from the showerhead, Hiei figured out how to redirect the water back out of the faucet, plugged the drain, and waited for the tub to fill.

Sitting on the corner edge of his bed, Hiei grimaced and wrinkled his nose at the final plate of a chef that decided to blend the peanut butter cups into his couscous. He wasn't surprised when he was eliminated.

Shutting off the waist-high water, Hiei checked the water's temperature. It was more than warm but by the time he got into it, it should be cooled off enough to hit that perfect point, he figured. A few steps out of the bathroom, Hiei realized he had hit a snag in his plan.

Kurama was asleep. Reaching the bathroom required that he be awake and there was no cupcake in the world that would motivate Hiei to drag him into the bathroom himself. He didn't even want to nudge him awake. Hiei looked around for something he could utilize as an alarm clock—the actual alarm feature on the hotel room's clock was broken. He saw a lot of cupcakes but that would be a waste of really good cupcakes. He did find something of use opening the bedside table drawers. To his disappointment, he didn't immediately burst into flames upon picking up the hotel's complimentary Holy Bible.

Sitting on the side of his bed, Hiei flipped through the Bible's cheap, ultra-thin to the point of translucent pages and weighed his options. As satisfying as it would be to smack him awake with it, a little gnarled pang of guilt yanked that thought right off center stage. He thought about nudging him with it, a little revenge for tapping his notebook on his head during his voiceless fit, but he wasn't sold on that plan either.

Deciding it would be fitting, he turned to Genesis and ripped out the first page. Balling it up, he tossed the wad Minamino's way. It landed without harm or noise in his hair. Hiei started tearing out pages by the fistful, making nice, solid baseballs to beam Minamino with. Ball after ball bounced quite satisfyingly off his head. In time, Minamino stirred, raising up and blinking at the paper ball graveyard surrounding him in confusion.

"Get up," Hiei said tersely. "Your bath is ready."

Kurama blinked again, clearly wondering if he was still dreaming. "My bath? You ran a bath for me?"

Minamino's honest surprise was stomach-knotting. The sincerity in his too green eyes bright and exposing as a spotlight, Hiei hunkered down into his own clothes and fixated his stare on a small pinpoint on the far wall and mumbled a string of syllables that may have actually formed a word or two if he had spoken them loud enough. His cheeks were pink in indignation, not embarrassment.

"Thank you, Hiei. That was very thoughtful of you—"

It had taken a moment or two but Hiei finally gathered his scattered anger, forged it into a sword, and cut through the knots in his stomach.

"It's only because if you don't get better, I'll spend the night listening to you sniffling, wheezing, coughing and blowing your nose and honestly, I've had enough of your disgusting body fluids," he snapped back, his eyes shut tight in refusal to look back at him, his mouth creased in a deep scowl. "Now go." He pointed toward the bathroom. "Wash the snot off your face."

He heard the blankets rustle and Minamino rise and pass by him. He finally reopened his eyes as he heard the bathroom door close and peered over his shoulder to confirm its shut state. Grumbling along the way, Hiei trudged to the windowsill and sat arms folded over his chest and glared down on the surf, wishing the sharks would come and feed on the stupid.

Some ten to fifteen minutes later, Yusuke and Kuwabara came back by, laughing and grinning and carrying in four large and apparently free pizzas and a two-liter of pop.

"They even threw in breadsticks and hot wings," Yusuke said, tears in his eyes as he laughed in mad incredulity. "Kurama catching a cold has made this the best summer break ever."

-o-

Crinkling up an empty one-pound bag of M&Ms and tossing the final scrap of trash in the bin, Hiei stood out on the hotel parking lot as Sister Midori took attendance once more while his fellow classmates joked and chatted amongst themselves and piled their belongings back under the bus. Of course when he and Minamino left their room, he was swamped in abundantly-concerned admirers that cooed and coddled him until they realized he was more captivated by the seagulls swarming over a twelve-inch hot dog bun.

He was still standing where his fan club left him, staring up at the drifting clouds. It became clear this morning that his fever wasn't broken, though he obeyed simple orders well. Along with his medicine, Sister Midori brought a surgical mask for Kurama to wear and gently insisted that it was for his and the others' well-being. Before he put it on, Hiei couldn't resist marking a large 'X' over the mask. It was such a simple joy for him.

As Sister Midori and a handful of students left to collect some friends who decided to have one last morning swim, Hiei decided to claim the backseat once more.

"Let's go," Hiei said and headed toward the bus. Three steps in, he realized Minamino wasn't following him. He sighed in frustration, tossed a glare at the sky, and circled back.

"Come on," he growled, pinching the corner of Minamino's sleeve and tugging him along in tow. He ordered him onto the bus, warned him about the stairs, kept him heading to the back as he turned into a middle seat, and finally told him to sit down upon reaching the backseat.

When everyone was accounted for, the return trip to the Academy began. Hiei still wasn't sure the trip had been a good idea to go for either one of them, though Minamino probably would've caught his cold regardless of his location. There had been…tolerable moments but then Hiei had almost died a stupid death and that balanced out the mass of little okay instances. In the end, they had gone, no big deal, he decided.

"You might as well lay down," he told Minamino, staring down at the rubber floor when the fast-moving scenery proved too nausea-inducing. "Nothing else to do."

Minamino uttered an agreeing groan, if his nodding was meant to be doubly affirming, and laid down. Hiei quickly scooted over to the edge of the backseat—luckily Minamino had not stretched out completely. But aside from the occasional jarring speed bump and the donkey braying their fellow classmates were passing off as laughter, it was quiet in the back. And then the squeaky dog toy sound returned, except it wasn't coming from Minamino.

"Ah, J-Jaganshi... I was wondering... I-If it would be no trouble..." one of Kurama's emboldened admirers said as Hiei opened his eyes from his not-sleep and dully glared at her. "If you would p-please remove Minamino's mask so I could take a photo of him sleeping."

"He's sick," he replied. _Though he isn't the only one..._

"Oh, I've heard. So unfortunate, isn't it?" Hiei didn't believe nor was moved by her put-on sadness and fake sympathy. "I know this might not be the right time...but I'd like to get a picture. He looks so _cuute_."

 _Bet she wouldn't say that if she tended to his constant snot flow all day,_ Hiei thought, his teeth aching from clenching them so tight to keep from verbally and physically lashing out at her. There was probably a wet trail of it running down his face right now and of course she was no doubt going to ask pretty-please if he would wipe it off because her Minamino had to be perfect. He couldn't even contract a damn cold without having to keep up appearances.

"Get. Lost," was all Hiei had to say before the suddenly wide-eyed girl turned tail and ran back to the front to rejoin the rest of the dumb asses.

Hiei breathed a calming, aggravated, disbelieving snort and peered out the bus window, his glare cold enough to spread ice crystals across the glass. He heard Kurama rouse a bit beside him. Wasn't surprising. Between the fever, chills, congestion, limited bed space, coughing, and drooling on himself, it was probably difficult to find that sweet little comfy spot conducive to restful sleep. Especially on a long, bench-style seat in the back of a barreling bus.

Warmth spread across his upper left thigh, as did warning bolts and prickling sensations. Heartbeat raised in shock, Hiei looked down and saw Kurama's head resting in his lap, his cheek pressed against the curve of his thigh. His jeans didn't mitigate the ache and madness sparking through him from his leg.

Arms crossed tightly over his chest, Hiei sat shaking, his nails clawing and digging into his elbows and with time and repetition drawing blood, as he struggled to not shove Kurama away. He was desperate not to give in, not to succumb to the writhing sensations urging him to get away. He could not bring himself to put his hands on Minamino to push him off. He didn't deserve to be so violently awakened. Minamino didn't know about his aversion and right now he wasn't even aware.

"I'm only putting up with this because you're so sick and pathetic. You're not getting away from this for free either. You owe me. Big time," Hiei grumbled low, every muscle in his body tense and trembling. "And you better not snot all over me."

He gazed up at the bus ceiling and reminded himself that everything was okay, it was only Kurama, he was on a bus with Kurama and he was sick and sleeping and everything was okay. He told himself that he could endure this and be okay and that Kurama would feel better (and repay him later with dividends) over and over.

 _A never-ending pain in my ass,_ Hiei thought, scowling as he looked down at Kurama sleeping, his sidelock curled around his pink cheek, eyelashes long and delicate.  _That's what you are._


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks goes to bluesyturtle, Sky_Song, AussieKat, Nekrocake, Kronig, Hawkens Kuudere, 801Milcah, DoomedTemperment, ScarlettLace for commenting and to all the readers that left kudos (or who commented on earlier chapters and I failed to mention them) since the last update.
> 
> First and foremost, I apologize for the long wait for this chapter. Over the last few months, I've had a lot of personal drama and health issues—one feeding the other, I do believe—further compounded by a family member's murder and funeral, and my mother's heart attack the night of said funeral. For a good long while, I wasn't in my right mind when I was home to return to this fic and this chapter…wouldn't have been healthy for me to work on.
> 
> Luckily, my mother has bounced back nicely but it took a while for things to come to some semblance of normal at home and it was longer still for me to steel myself to return to this fic and then my old laptop died but luckily everything transferred to my new laptop without issue and eventually at long last this chapter is done.
> 
> Admittedly, this chapter is one I've been excited to reach and dreaded reaching at the same time, and as usual, I have OOC qualms over Hiei's emotional outbursts. Still it's one of the first chapters I had planned out and it didn't change much from my rough outline. It wasn't any easier to write, however. I've had a lot of kind words about how cute this story is…that was fun, wasn't it? Chapter title comes from Hebrews 2:9.
> 
> I can never say enough thanks to all of you that have been waiting and checking for updates and been eager to read on and no doubt been frustrated or let down when another month went by and there was nothing. Frankly, I'm always amazed that I still have readers but I am wholeheartedly grateful nonetheless for anyone that has waited or is a new reader. Hopefully, this chapter was well worth the wait.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: There's very little I own. YYH's rights is not one of those things.

-o-

Chapter Twenty-One: Crowned With Glory and Honor

-o-

"Hey, kid, pack up your rat and get out," the man said, looming over Hiei. The man's face and body was cast in shadow as a bright medical light shined above him, blinding Hiei.

Hiei pushed himself smaller and deeper into the corner as he stared wide-eyed up at the man. His eyes darted for a way out, even though he knew the man would grab him at his slightest twitch.

Somehow he had found him. He had searched for him and found him. From the newspapers, perhaps, detailing his track wins or perhaps he had known where he was as far back as the announcement of his scholarship to the Academy. Hiei gasped for breath, his short and rapid breaths jerking his chest, as he choked down his sobs, the two conflicting sounds struggling to sound at the same time coming out as a strange half-wheeze, half-gulp of air as he realized that the man had found him and now he was going to take him back.

"The hell is wrong with you, punk?" An ox of a man growled at Hiei as he snapped out of his almost-sleep and found the bent-over brute, more fitting as a heavy for a yakuza lord than a maintenance man at a Catholic boarding school, eyeing him suspiciously. "You on somethin'? …Yeah, you're on somethin'."

Raising his head out from between his knees, Hiei stared, this time in confusion. The man had been there. He had been right in front of him…but he wasn't now. Looking at the brute before him shadowed in the labs' florescent tube lights, he wondered how in the hell he could have mistaken his face and voice for the man's. Bit by bit, his breath eased but he was still shaken.

Hiei sat in a corner in one of the Science Hall's basement labs with Minamino the mouse rummaging through a mostly eaten box of strawberry tart cookies on his lap. He had spent most of the night inside the labs, looking at and talking to the creatures that inhabited the cages and tanks or simply sat in silence as Minamino the mouse squeaked on and on.

Hiei's body ached as he slowly rose to standing, his legs stiff and jolting with pain. It wasn't like he had sat on the floor for half the night. He had gotten up a few times and walked around the labs and he had barely pushed himself during his run yesterday. There was no logical reason for his aches.

"Come on, punk, get up!" The impatient brute wrenched him up by the shirt and sent him tottering on his feet. "We're busy. Scram!"

When he was steady on his feet, Hiei shot the bastard a glare over his shoulder and stumbled to Minamino the mouse's empty cage. He questioned whether or not to put her back or keep her out for a while longer, at least until the steady march of nondescript workers stopped. Pairs of interchangeable, replaceable men weaved through the underground maze of basement labs and storage-utility closets and other specialized facilities carrying unmarked storage crates containing quite possibly anything and nothing they wished to be seen.

It was nearly the end of summer break and the rest of the student body would be returning to the Academy in four days. While it would be a little less boring on campus once classes restarted, Hiei wouldn't have free rein of the Academy's halls anymore…or at least it would be a little more difficult to break into places once more students began crowding and wandering the hall corridors again.

It wasn't as if the halls had been completely silent throughout the summer holiday. There had been plentiful visits from these 'maintenance workers' in overalls, their shoulders emblazoned with the Daioh Corporation's logo and nothing else. Nothing on their uniforms said anything to what company or affiliate they were from or the kind of work they performed. None of the workers ever had so little as their last name stitched above their shirt pockets.

These shady, hive-minded people (at least until Hiei had proof to the contrary) were everywhere, invasively permeating the outer and inner walls of the Academy. They performed some repairs, yes, on the third floor bathrooms' plumbing for instance, but Hiei noticed there were far too many workers for the amount of repairs and maintenance going on and some of the electrical wiring and servers in the backroom of the computer room being repaired wasn't broken to begin with.

While he doubted they would have any need to raid the Academy's live animals, Hiei didn't trust these workers around his empty candy wrappers, so there was no way in hell he was leaving Minamino the mouse around them. He let the pudgy snowball of a mouse plop down into his shirt pocket and locked her cage. As Hiei headed for the door, he walked past a woman in a lab coat cursorily flipping through pages on her clipboard. Her orange-brown hair was and would not be more fittingly described as anything but rice ball-shaped.

"Hmm…" she smiled as she observed Hiei and quickly jotted down notes on her clipboard. "You're a glorious specimen."

He wasn't sure if it was her stare following him or what she had said and the eager-to-begin-experimentation way she had said it and smiled that unnerved him but Hiei was anxious to get away from her. Though he did not visibly show it, he hurried through and out of the basement labs.

He wandered through the color-coded hallways because he didn't want to admit to himself that he couldn't quite remember the way to the third floor stairwell. He hadn't forgotten where it was. He had just mistaken where it was. He had taken a wrong turn, that was all. He was having a lapse in memory but he was not lost. It was impossible that he had forgotten as many times as he had gone up to the third floor labs this month alone.

Hiei sharply circled around mid-step and saw nothing. The footsteps he had heard—there had been footsteps, damn it—were gone or stopped. He slowly walked backwards, darting his eyes around in search of any movement and listened. Seeing and hearing nothing, he turned back around. He had expected for whomever was following him to move closer to him if he pretended that all was clear but whoever was there was at least savvy enough (or had seen as many horror movies as Hiei) to see through his false lure. He wished they had moved, that they would move, just so he had some proof that he hadn't imagined it.

_Someone had been there,_ Hiei assured himself. It was that woman from the labs, he was was messing with him. Experimenting on him already. She couldn't wait, couldn't resist beginning.

_Hiei_ …said a voice that was definitely a woman's and Hiei looked back and once again saw nothing. He clenched his jaw in frustration. There was no way no one was there. The voice had sounded too close. It sounded impossibly like someone had spoken right by his ear.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow flit around a corner ahead of him. He turned back and ran after her, his sprinting steps clacking against the smooth tile floors and reverberated in the empty halls. Knowing what he had seen and knowing it to be real, he raced down the long corridor, darting with urgency and desperation as he peered into classroom windows and threw open unlocked doors. His anger and frustration and despair stacked and pressed and pinned into one another as he found more and more emptiness down the hallway and around the next.

"I know you're here!" he shouted before he could stop himself. He knew how crazy he sounded, yelling in empty halls. The soles of his sneakers squeaked as he suddenly and swiftly darted in circles, uncertain of where to go or what action to take next and not even positive there was a place for him to go or something he needed to do. His thoughts were urging him to hurry before all was lost, his feet to take chase, but he had no direction, no trail to follow. All he knew that while the man hadn't been here, _she_ was here. He had heard her voice. He had seen her. And he wasn't crazy.

His arms resting on a windowsill and his forehead resting on top of his arms, Hiei stood bowed forward and caught his quickened breath. Bit by bit, the frenetic swarm of buzzing, bolting thoughts hushed and stilled.

Though he had acted…brash was the word Hiei was going to go with, at least he had ultimately found the stairs to the third floor. As he made his way to the labs, he calmly listened and peered into passing classroom windows in search of any sign of her. He only ever saw his faint reflection in the shatter-resistant glass.

Lab A really needed a name plate under its sign reading some phrasing of 'property of Kurama Minamino' beneath it with as much time as he spent working inside. Not too many students used the labs unless they were under assignment to do so or in a club. Outside of class, the labs did require faculty permission, which was supposed to be a trial to receive unless you were a persuasive redhead with glossy hair and an even brighter mind.

All others had to produce a detailed outline of their experiment, maintain a consistent grade point average equaling at minimum to a high 'B', possess no disciplinary record, and watch a three hour long video detailing lab safety and how to properly use certain specialized lab equipment and by the time that was finished most students had already lost all ambition to pursue any sort of scientific endeavor.

As usual, Hiei entered the unlocked lab without knocking or greeting. Sitting at one of four workspaces, Minamino was dissecting another test group of dead lab mice.

"So we are a trio today," Kurama said amicably, at first barely glancing over at Hiei until he walked into a bar stool and knocked it into the countertop. From then on, he watched Hiei as he pulled the tall seat back out and sat down beside him.

"Too many people downstairs," Hiei grumbled, canting his eyes and looking away from Kurama. "They're bringing in equipment."

"What sort of equipment?" Kurama asked, having paused from his heart tissue sample preparation to scrutinize his every move so it seemed.

Hiei angled himself away from Kurama's immediate line of sight. While it didn't incite the pain and panic and skin irritations as his touch aversion, Hiei found prolonged eye contact discomforting as well. Most people stared at him because of his red eyes. The man had endlessly stared as he cut and pricked and injected new fluids into his veins. The officers that had found him and the doctors and nurses that had tended to him afterwards had continuously stared at his protruding bones and taut, thin skin with horrified wonder and disgust.

She had stared at him askance from afar for the longest time while the other children chatted with her and played around her before she came over to him…

"Didn't see. They didn't want me to," Hiei replied tersely as he turned on a nearby faucet and let a steady, thin stream drip. He picked up Minamino the mouse from out of his shirt pocket and held her out to drink from the running faucet. For some stupid reason, his hand wouldn't stop trembling, no matter how he tried to steady it. The jostling let a drip of water splash on Minamino the mouse's head. She squeaked in protest and immediately began the long, time-consuming process of smoothing and drying her face. Hiei set her down on the countertop with a cookie and hid his hands.

Didn't matter, though. Kurama had seen the shaking. He already knew and was searching and piecing together facts and visible truths, turning and sliding them together in their neat little same and like-minded categories like he was speed-solving a Rubik's cube—which he had once done so in a matter of seconds and in what Yusuke had said and Hiei agreed was the most smart-asshole way possible by solving it one handed while reading a book. Like that cube, he probably had already figured out a cause for his hand tremors and was simply trying to best his own record, so to speak, by coming up with a few more logical explanations.

Hiei avoided his calm, meeting stare as Kurama analyzed and overanalyzed and waited for Hiei to speak but Hiei wasn't going to.

"When was the last time you slept?" Kurama asked not long after.

"In a bed," Hiei replied. "You're not special there."

"Good to know," Kurama replied, unflustered by Hiei's acerbic jab, as he placed a slice of heart tissue on a microscope slide, "but I asked when, not where."

He looked away and then back at Kurama before finally settling his stare on a cabinet on the opposite side of the lab. He could have sworn he had heard where, not when, but why would Kurama have asked where? Hiei guessed it didn't matter, aside from the fact that Hiei now felt like an ass for biting back at Kurama with a curt answer for the wrong question.

Hiei decided to push his embarrassment to the side and move right along past his error and then quickly realized he didn't have an immediate answer to Kurama's actual question at all. He scrambled to recall and thought and rethought while Kurama observed his prepared heart sample underneath the microscope in the meantime. The last time Hiei had what could be considered a proper night's rest for him was far from recent and recalling that imprecise date was proving to be a languid and muddled process as much as it had been to wake himself out from that last adequate night's sleep.

"…It was a Monday," he at long last replied and was far from sure of himself.

"This week or last?"

"Does it matter?" Hiei said.

"I suppose not, given that today is Friday," Kurama said, as he jotted down a few notes. "It has still been at minimum four days since you last slept."

Despite knowing it was a much longer than that, Hiei nonetheless raised his head up and said haughtily, "So?"

"The fact that you cannot readily say when you last slept is a strong indication that you need to sleep," Kurama said. "Also your hands have yet to stop shaking."

The tremor in his hands was somewhat new. Hiei had noticed it the other day as he slid open the sealed box of strawberry tart cookies he had grabbed off a student's bed in their open, unguarded dorm room. His shaking wasn't pronounced but he couldn't keep his hands still.

At first, Hiei had brushed it off as nervous energy, restlessness. With plenty of time and no set schedule, Hiei had energy but no reason or desire to move. Except when he had to. There were just some times where he had to run in the woods, through hallways and stairs, go through unlocked lab cabinets and reorganize them, or unorganize the library shelves when he was suddenly keyed up with an explosive burst of energy. If his hand tremors had started during one of his manic episodes, Hiei never would have noticed.

There might have been a few more races for him on grander, perhaps international stages if on the media day before the National races took place he hadn't gotten into a shouting and shoving match with his male teammate and punched him out and broke at least one camera lens. After all, he had already told his teammates that he was done with interviews after they had gone through six asinine interviews in a row and a flurry of seizure-inducing camera flashes and still reporters were showing up and his teammates were trying to get him to stay and talk more. If he hadn't gotten disqualified for assault, he definitely would've taken first place in his events.

"Are you finding it difficult to sleep?" Kurama asked with marked interest.

"It's been at least four days since I've slept," Hiei said, punctuating his gruff words with an equally harsh glare. "What do you think?"

Hiei knew what Kurama was doing. He didn't ask stupid questions he could easily infer the answers to, like Kuwabara. He was bridging his questions, connecting one to lead into another, politely weaving his way to the actual question he wanted to ask. Most of the time, Hiei let Kurama build his roads, unless he was leading him down to a far too personal place and then he would warn him. Whether Kurama was willing to take another step or backed off was purely his decision to make.

"Hiei, if I may…" If Kurama felt the need to abandon his gentle slope tactic and ask directly, it was probably something Hiei wouldn't want to answer. Sure enough, it was. "What might be keeping you up at night?"

Hiei actually gave thought to telling him that he dreamed of dark basements and uneven concrete floors, of cuts and shocks and bruises. That he dreamed of dying and of wanting to die and of feeling so weak and hungry as he laid on the concrete floor and hadn't moved in weeks that he thought he was already dead. And in his stunned silence, he would tell him afterwards that none of this was a dream world his mind built but a physical place he once survived and that would put an end to his bridging questions. After all, there was nothing a privileged boy with a loving home and the world on a string could say in response. Was there something keeping him up at night? Yes, and not without reason.

When Hiei did not answer him, Kurama delicately attempted a different approach. "Do you need some sort of assistance in getting to sleep?"

How the hell would someone help someone get to sleep, Hiei wondered. There was no such thing as taking someone's place to sleep for them. This was probably the first truly stupid question Kurama had ever asked him. What could he do to so-called 'assist'? Sit on the edge of the bed and wait for him to fall asleep? Curl up beside him and wrap an arm around him and let Hiei bury and warm himself between the bend of his neck and his hair pulled over his shoulder and fanned out over Hiei's face and take in the mixed berry scent of his shampoo and the inexplicable but unmistakable scent of caramel and toffee wafting around him…

Kurama was talking.

He was talking about sleeping pills. He was discussing that Hiei should consider the assistance of a sleep medication. Why in the hell didn't he think Kurama meant something along those lines in the first place? Why did he automatically assume he meant Kurama physically laying down with him…damn it, _damn it_! Hiei already knew that he needed to sleep, that he hadn't slept, but this confusion and misconstruing wasn't all due to his lack of sleep.

These idle flights of stupidity were supposed to go away. This…false attraction, these fake feelings were all supposed to go away with time but how much time did it take? Was he supposed to just suffer for weeks, months, years even on end being pushed and pulled as his train of thought effortlessly derailed by a word, a smile, a look, a shadow of Kurama? Anyone that spoke of him or anything that reminded Hiei of him easily stirred his thoughts and body. There was no place on campus that his mind couldn't find something to connect, to reawaken a memory, a feeling to Kurama. Kurama didn't even have to be in the room for his mind to drift, to wander and wonder, to desire.

Hiei canted his eyes to the lab floor and dug his nails into the back of his burning, itching, hive-flared neck in discomfort.

"If you are not comfortable with the dependency and side effect risks of sleep tablets, valerian has been proven effective for insomnia," Kurama suggested. "I can make a tincture of it but it will unfortunately be two to three weeks before it is minimally ready. If you want to try and stomach it in tea form, I will prepare you a cup but I will warn you now. It tastes horrendous and sugar does nothing to improve its palatability."

"I don't need your help!" Hiei hopped off the tall stool and ran to the lab door. He ran through the halls, up the stairwell to the roof, and found the rooftop door locked. He kicked and punched and rammed his shoulder into the metal door but the lock held.

Tired and aching and overwhelmed by anger, frustration, madness, by everything, he stumbled backwards into a corner and slid down to the floor. It wasn't just his hands shaking anymore. He drew his shaking legs in tight toward his chest. He gasped at the streaks of blood on his right hand and saw the stains on his tartan pants. Raising his bloodied hand to the back of his neck, Hiei felt the jagged claw tracks on his broken, raw skin.

It was too much. The aches, the shakes, the woman's voice, it was enough and Hiei was tired. His face flushed and hot, Hiei stared up at the ceiling, at the pipework and away from the light and fought to hold the welling tears from falling. Though his face burned and his throat was sore from swallowing all but a tight, strained whimper, his eyes finally dried up. He saw shadows shifting on the stairs below and hoped it was not the woman or Kurama searching for him.

-o-

Kurama Minamino watched as Hiei ran out of the lab and away from him. He fought and defeated his first impulse to race after him and remained at his workspace. It would do him nor Hiei good to provoke him further. In such a heightened state of agitation, Hiei would only lash out more at him. It would be easier and less prickly to squash a sea urchin between his hands than to attempt to calm Hiei down in the state he was in. Time was best for Hiei. Time and rest.

He could give him time alone but he could not ensure that Hiei would receive the rest he so desperately needed. There were deep shadows under his eyes, Kurama had noticed as soon as Hiei had entered the lab. While it was true that there had always been some sort of weary ring beneath Hiei's eyes, for weeks now Kurama had watched the normally varying, shifting shadows steadily remain black and also observed as his sturdy shoulders began to hunch over and his proud head drooped forward in line with his decline. Seeing the tremor in his hands only served as more proof that Hiei was not sleeping, not that it was necessary or conclusive evidence. Anyone, even Yusuke, who was not the most perceptive person, could have deduced successfully that Hiei was extremely sleep deprived.

At first, Kurama had said nothing. It was common for many students to lose sleep in the coming weeks before the end-of-term tests but as the exams came and went and their summer holiday began and rest did not come to Hiei, Kurama began to suspect a deeper, underlying cause. He found it worrisome, considerably now that he knew Hiei's insomnia was persisting and effecting him physically and mentally and unbalancing him emotionally.

Of lately and occurring more and more so, Hiei became distracted, inexplicably staring vacantly into voids and at unremarkable objects and random points of space for such unsettling, prolonged lengths of time that Kurama was considering the possibility that Hiei was hallucinating due to his sleep deprivation. Oftentimes Hiei would snap to attention suddenly and respond aggressively, typically snapping at him for a minor, presumed slight and running off, just as he had done moments ago.

Kurama cleaned and cleared his workspace, put away all the borrowed equipment and his notes, and finally disposed of the dead mice. While he had not completed his dissection of all the mice in his first test sample, he had dissected the vast majority of his samples and had found no alteration to their internal physical structure and no sign of any regeneration of live tissue. And though he had not gone through all of his samples, he had obtained enough consistent results to determine that his first trial solution was ineffective.

He still, however, had a second solution and a second sample of mice to look over later on, after he returned from town and prepared Hiei a tincture of valerian root.

He found Hiei's mouse weaving and squeaking between the beakers and test tubes in search of food or at least her scowling friend that gave her food. In his haste, Hiei had left her. Whenever it was the three of them, never had he rushed out without snatching her up first—the fact that he had forgotten her further proved the severity of his insomnia. While Kurama had only ever seen Hiei treat his animal companion with cool detachment, he knew well enough that he was in reality quite fond of his pet, if her pudginess was any proof.

Finding a suitably small cardboard carrier, Kurama placed her inside and locked the lab door behind him. He saw maintenance workers down in the basement labs working on flickering lights and dripping pipes—none of which had been an issue this morning. There were unmarked wooden crates placed in the halls or stacked in rooms, just as Hiei had said. None were open or left unguarded. The men standing on guard duty were not friendly. In fact, their near-emotionless glares honed in on and fixated on Kurama's presence immediately and never left him until presumably after he left. He was extremely doubtful that these men would be open to the slightest questioning, if they would be willing to speak at all.

_A questionable company behaving questionably carrying and guarding equally questionable crates,_ Kurama considered as he backtracked through the labs to the animal housing facilities, every once in a while tossing a glance over his shoulder and around corners as a precaution. _One might get the impression that they do not wish anyone to learn what they are doing…_

Among the tanks and cages housing the Academy's lab animals, there was a woman in a lab coat handling and observing one of the Academy's corn snakes. She cooed gently and praised the snake for being 'such a good girl' as she returned it to its tank and locked it, briefly locking eyes with Kurama as he walked by. Kurama was not aware of anyone but certain faculty possessing keys to the labs. There was no faculty to speak of supervising her either and while it was entirely possible that Father Akashi had been charmed by this reasonably-attractive woman with rice ball hair into lending his keys to her, there was no immediate explanation as how or why she was here or was given notable access.

Her heels clacking on the smooth concrete floor, she followed Kurama and stood at the end of the wall of mice cages and watched him as he returned Hiei's mouse to her cage.

"Have we met at some point?" Kurama asked and tilted his head down slightly in a small show of embarrassment and put on a cordial smile. "You seem to be waiting for me to recognize you but unfortunately I cannot seem to place you anywhere or recall your name."

"We haven't met," she said rather briskly. "I stared at you, didn't I? Forgive that. I am drawn to the abnormal. I specialize in it."

_You exhibit it,_ Kurama thought as he met her cool gaze and widened his smile just a bit more, taking on a lighthearted air."You perceive me as abnormal, doctor?"

"You think I am a doctor?" she said, sporting the slightest of smirks.

"Professionally and suitably dressed as you are and standing within our labs, I would perceive you as someone whose occupation lies within either the medical or scientific field."

"I could be a hooker in a rental costume for as good as your perception will do," she replied, pushing her ultra-thin silver glasses up at the hinge. "Perception is not reality. It is not the truth. Your mind's sense of perception can easily be manipulated. I would not rely on it."

"Who might you be then?" Kurama asked, matching her faint smirk with his own.

"I could ask the same of you," she replied. "Who might I _be_? A very broad question. I bet you struggle with that question every day. Who am I and who will I become? What is my purpose? Why do I exist? One of many struggles of the adolescent that does not alter with age, I'm sorry to report, young man."

Her impassive smile was thoroughly underlined with superiority and mockery. She was messing with him, that was obvious. How much of this pseudo-psychoanalysis was an act, Kurama wanted to test. After all, the difference between a lethally venomous coral snake and a harmless milk snake was the particular alignment of their similarly colored bands.

_I know this game, this tactic._ "What is your name then?"

"I am Dr. Su Pai," she said. "As of today, I am the Academy's on-site school therapist."

If she was the woman she introduced herself as, this was no act but it was a game. "If I may," Kurama said, with a small, humble nod, "why would a world-renown psychologist essentially demote herself and remove herself from active research to employ herself as a school therapist? You know that you are vastly overqualified."

The doctor seemed pleased, either by the recognition or with his question. "Sacred Heart has always maintained a high standard and reputation of esteemed excellence. It isn't really surprising that they would seek out the best of the best," she said. "Truth be told, I was once a student here like yourself. I chalk up all my accomplishments to the education I received here. I, however, have grown uninspired in my work and when I was given the opportunity to return and serve the Academy, I saw it as God's will and fortune to do so. The phoenix sets its nest ablaze and is reborn, do you follow?"

"Yes, I do," Kurama said.

"Glorious," she replied with a rather cheery smirk.

Kurama knew of Doctor Pai but he did not recall her name among the Academy's illustrious alumni. He made a mental note to verify her claim.

"Ah, excuse me, Doctor Pai," Kurama said. "While it has been most interesting meeting you, I must draw our introduction to a close. After all, buses tend to be punctual means of transportation."

"Of course, young man," she said. "Hopefully we will meet again, should you require my expertise."

Kurama laughed softly and peered at her sheepishly. "I would not wish to squander your time."

"Would you now?" she said, outright grinning in amusement at she stared at him.

Rising from his short farewell bow, Kurama simply smiled cheerfully back in reply. Her slate colored eyes remained locked on him as he turned and made his way to the open lab door. His shoulders did not relax and the feel of her lingering stare did not leave him until long after he exited the Science Hall entirely.

_Regardless of whether or not the Academy has ever had need for a school therapist, the fact that we suddenly possess one mid-year is a curiosity,_ Kurama considered, hearing a low rumble of thunder and seeing a rolling blanket of dark clouds signifying a sudden summer storm squall cover the sky in pseudo-nightfall. _Might I believe that coincidences occur naturally and that the presence of Doctor Pai coinciding with the delivery of many particular, peculiar crates is in no way correlated to the other, I would be rather foolish._

Kurama headed back to the library to wait out the squall until it passed by, occupying his wait in the yearbook records. Skimming through records set fifteen, twenty years back, Su Pai was not among any of the graduating classes.

His elbows on the table, Kurama leaned forward and pressed his mouth against his interlaced hands as he sat contemplating possibilities and potential meanings of Doctor Pai opening office at Sacred Heart.

_What it means and what will entail, I am uncertain. There are too many unknown variables to foresee a logical conclusion_ , Kurama sighed as he filed away yearbooks in their proper chronological order. _This I am certain, however. If one cannot determine the precise species of snake in their midst, it is wise to regard and treat it as if it were highly venomous. Doctor Pai is no exception._

-o-

There was no other way, Hiei realized. He had thought and considered but no absolute, perfect solution came to mind. He could not simply ignore Kurama Minamino. He had tried and it didn't work. They were friends, he guessed. Even if he avoided him, after a day or three, they would be sitting together again, regardless if Kurama had sought him out or Hiei sat with him unthinking and out of habit. Hiei had only recently become sort of used to his presence. He wasn't anymore.

Instead, he was agitated, unnerved around Kurama and try as he might to not care, his foolish emotions refused to let him sit still or be calm around him. It was becoming more difficult to deny that he was drawn to Kurama in ways that he despised, that physically sickened him, that confused and maddened him and yet brought him a new sense of…ease was the best word Hiei could come up with that seemed right.

This ease…he couldn't handle it. It terrified him. He knew anger and fear, pain and uncertainty. Ease was new, unknown, therefore unsafe. He did not know ease so it did not feel right. But this ease felt nice and yet his mental alarms were blaring and urging him to run, go, and avoid him at all cost.

And if he was comfortable around Kurama, if he was attracted to him, if he was safe with him—Hiei, his back pressed against the wall as he sat with his legs tightly drawn in on his bed, covered his mouth with both hands and smothered his scream of anguish mashed with rage.

Hiei had known something like ease once before with the woman. This feeling like ease had put him in the man's basement. Without a doubt, there was a reason he was dreaming of her and of all times now. It was a warning, an alarm. History repeats and Hiei would be damned before he let it happen again. He couldn't. Not again. Not with Kurama.

Hiei rushed around his dorm room, collecting his clothes and going through Kuwabara's things for anything useful. He had already stolen a few useful items and money from open dorm rooms and supply closets around campus. He gathered his stolen supplies and food on his bed and began cramming and then angrily organizing them so everything actually fit into a backpack.

There was no way he could avoid Kurama for the rest of the year and no hope of an end to these stupid thoughts and feelings, so Hiei would leave and no one would send him back. No matter how he felt about Kurama, no matter what he knew to be true about him, and how dissimilar he was to the woman, Hiei couldn't risk being lied to and tricked again. After all, the more a vase was cracked, fractured, and splintered, the harder it was to piece back together break after break. Souls were even harder to tape up.

Across the perfectly-manicured campus and into the woods, Hiei ran. He had about two hours left of summer sunlight. His plan so far consisted on walking day and night, resting in trees when he eventually tired, until he came to a city where he would live and steal everything he needed until the police pressure drove him out and then he would move on, repeating this process until his last breath.

It didn't matter that he didn't know how large the forest was, or knew where the nearest city was or what direction to take to get there. As long as he was far away from the Academy and never had another thought about Kurama Minamino, and didn't find out that he was actually a lying bastard just like the woman, Hiei could get by. It wasn't as if he had expected to be anything in his life. The only thing he saw himself being in the future was dead. He wasn't suicidal. He just expected that one day, regardless if it was a year or ten years from now, an accident or intentional, he would be dead. A grim truth, yes, but inevitable.

Running along a dense bramble patch, Hiei looked for a gap among the thorns to cut through or hoped to reach the end soon. Though he couldn't see the Academy from here, he wasn't far enough away from the campus for his liking yet. Minamino was following him, though he was several feet behind him and wasn't exactly gaining on him. The fact that he was somewhat keeping up with him was slightly worth mentioning, Hiei guessed. He wasn't exactly running at full speed but even at his half-sprint Hiei could outrun his classmates and competitors. Most would have given up by now but Minamino was still behind him.

"Leave me alone," Hiei said, the air thick with humidity sapping his breath and stamina. He hadn't slowed down to a hasty stomp to let Minamino catch up with him at all. He was just going to catch his breath. If anything he was going to get him to get the hell off his trail—after all, he couldn't get away from him if he was following him.

"Hiei…" Minamino said, his voice soft with concern and confusion, "why do you have a backpack?"

"Don't you have a whole list of crap to do for other people?" Hiei said wryly without stopping or looking back at Minamino.

"I am not leaving you. I have left you alone and it is not helping," Minamino said, answering Hiei's derision with insistence. "Hiei, if there is something disturbing you, we can discuss the matter at length and I will make you some valerian tea."

"No, thanks. I've seen where I'll wake up," Hiei said and bolted into a labored sprint.

"Hiei, stop!" Minamino called, panic edging sharply into his voice, as he ran after him. "You are behaving irrationally."

And Minamino was behaving rationally. He was always rational. He was always right. Everything was always perfect and to plan but Hiei wasn't going to fall right in line into his orchestrated trap. Hiei knew better now. He had learned from the woman. So what if Minamino was a genius? It was going to take one hell of a plan to trick him again.

Hiei wanted to believe that he had stumbled on a raised rock or an exposed tree root but he had tripped over his own weary feet. His speed and momentum sent him roughly rolling forward and then he slid down a gentle slope through tall wild grasses and broad-leafed greenery with prickly stems.

He was rattled and damp from the wet dirt and grass, bits of mud and tiny slivers of blackened twigs and decomposed leaves sticking to his tacky, sweaty skin. Dizzy and his head aching, he chose to lay still for a moment after he ineffectually tried to raise and sit up and couldn't think of which way was up.

His face was burning and tears threatened to fall, Hiei painfully choked back his sob, all but a rough whine. He heard Minamino's footfalls not a moment or two after. He half-slid as he stopped himself and fell to the ground beside him.

"Hiei, it's all right," a clearly frightened Minamino said much too quickly and with far too much forced gentleness that his words seemed just as much a reassurance to himself as it was to Hiei, as he slipped off Hiei's already half fallen off backpack and gingerly turned Hiei onto his back.

"I won't fit in the Box," Hiei said wearily, his voice cracking. He was shaking again. Maybe he had never stopped.

"Hiei, you are not making sense," Minamino said, flustered and for once uncertain of what to do and looking for answers, as he held and steadied Hiei's shoulders. He was equally out of breath and drenched in sweat as Hiei was, his sidetails stuck to his face.

"I'm not crazy!" Hiei insisted, his voice broken and sounding anything but sane, as he stared up at a dumbfounded Minamino and silently asked him to believe him. Hiei hoped it was sweat running down his face.

"I never said you were," Minamino said quietly, calmly, as he brushed away the bits of dirt and forest matter from Hiei's shoulders, arms, and hair. "You are tired."

Much as his light touch pricked and sparked anger, it also gave Hiei something to focus and rebuild around. He felt a particular strange mix of irritation and comfort, he realized, as Minamino plucked away a tiny sliver of grass stuck near his left eye. Hiei was vulnerable and yet Minamino wasn't capitalizing on that fact. By now, the woman would have left him in the man's control and moved on to her next client. Minamino was trying to console him, despite not knowing that his touch hurt more than reassured him—it was still far more care and concern than anyone had ever shown him.

For several breath-lengths, they sat together in silence, aside from the whirring whine of the cicadas, with Minamino either looking away or sitting with his eyes closed as he patiently waited. Bit by bit, as Hiei took control of his breath and watched the very gradual darkening of the sky go from light to deep blue, his shaking stilled.

Hiei sat up slowly and Minamino reached out to help steady him. "Don't touch me," Hiei said, without any real force or real feeling in his voice, and raised an arm up to block or swipe away Minamino's hands if he tried to help him anyway. There was no need. Minamino listened and drew his hands away.

"She was there," Hiei said after a short pause, staring at the ground just beyond his feet. "I just lost her. She hid from me."

"…Yes, of course." If his short hesitation meant anything, Minamino probably didn't believe him but he was willing to go along just to keep him calm. Hiei was too drained to call him out on it. Or maybe he actually did believe him and Hiei couldn't tell either way.

"How did you see me?" Hiei asked, quietly, his head still bowed. "Weren't you in the labs?"

Minamino shook his head no. "I saw you from my dorm window. I thought you were going for a run and then I saw your backpack." For just a moment, Minamino idly swept away the dirt and brush from his pants leg before he asked, "Where would you have gone, Hiei?"

Hiei did not reply. He didn't really have an answer and anywhere but here wasn't a very good reply and made for an even worse plan.

"I finished the tincture," Minamino said, his smile small and gentle, "and there is more than enough valerian in the greenhouse to make tea until it is ready."

"It works but it really tastes bad, doesn't it?" Hiei peered up and Minamino lightly nodded yes. "Damn. If only the idiots were here to down it first."

"In absence of our experimental proxies, I am willing to drink a cup with you, so you do not need to bear its foul bitterness alone."

"…Maybe," Hiei said, eyes canted to the forest floor again. Then again, Hiei's eyelids felt so heavy that he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't be asleep before the tea water reached a boil. It probably wouldn't hurt to try it, especially since Hiei had been this exhausted before and still couldn't find sleep. With a little rest and clarity, he was bound to be able to come up with a better plan than just head somewhere like a dumbass.

The sound of male voices and rustling footsteps woke Hiei up slightly. He looked over at Minamino, equally on alert, and the two crept over and hid behind a tall wild hedgerow. Neither had any idea of who would enter the forest, especially in the waning light of sunset, but it was more than likely a pair of so-called maintenance workers and they would be no more partial to catching students in the forest than the faculty would.

"Yes, here would do," said a man with a deep, booming voice and a pleased smirk on his face that wasn't too hard to imagine from his tone of voice.

Minamino's eyes widened slightly in recognition. "Enma Daioh," he mouthed to Hiei as he faced the hedgerow and gently pulled back a piece of the shrubbery to make a tiny window for himself.

Though he had once, maybe twice visited the orphanage after one of his charitable donations, Hiei had never seen the well-known-to-be-brutish executive until now since the orphanage staff had intentionally-accidentally locked him in one room or another each time Enma Daioh visited. As Hiei peered through a natural gap in the green, Enma Daioh seemed to be just as Minamino had described—monstrous in size and overall demeanor. In fact, Hiei raised an eyebrow more at seeing Father Takenaka accompanying him than at Enma Daioh's presence.

"Here?" Father Takenaka turned to Enma and questioned amicably. "Why in heavens would you be interested in purchasing this land from us?"

"Oh, but I require a large acreage of land either on or nearby the Academy," Enma Daioh said, grinning. "You see, I am providing the students of Sacred Heart a gift and resource to better themselves emotionally and academically."

The headmaster nodded and smiled in approval. "Well, I would never turn down anything that is in the students' best interest and benefit," Father Takenaka said, "but what is it exactly that you plan to develop on this land?"

"Nothing more than bringing my preventive solution into creation," Enma replied. "The convenience of possessing such an available mental health facility on school grounds will raise Sacred Heart's regard, I assure you."

Takenaka turned his head sharply back to Enma. "You're planning on carrying out that ridiculous suggestion? You cannot place a sanatorium on school grounds!" he said with absolute authority and outrage. "I'm sorry but I cannot allow this. I will not place the students in danger."

"Such an archaic word, sanatorium…" Enma Daioh said, closing his eyes and chuckling deeply. "It's more of a psychiatric hospital and you have no worries. I will spare no expense in ensuring the security and well-being of the students and faculty. You'll see, it will be for the betterment of the students."

"I have already employed a highly-reputable therapist to attend to such matters," Takenaka replied. "I thank you for your concern, Mr. Daioh, but I will not permit you to build such a place anywhere near my academy."

Again, Enma Daioh chuckled as he adjusted his stance and angled himself to the side, brushing back the right side of his open longcoat. "Twice in one year I have been told no, how peculiar…"

In the last moments of twilight, there was enough light to discern the basic shape of the standard pistol Enma Daioh pulled out and fired at Father Takenaka, hitting him in the lower left side of his torso. The calls of crows seemed to echo from one bird to another as a flock took flight, frightened by the gunshot. Hiei looked on, silenced and anchored by fear and his own survival instinct ordering him to stay hidden, as the kindly headmaster clutched his wound and was rammed to the ground by Enma. He saw out of the corner of his eye Minamino turning away in horror.

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man," Enma Daioh recited in a lofty voice dripping with faux reverence as he walked along Takenaka's fallen body, "and do you men of the cloth not strive to uphold and live His teachings?"

"Holy Father, bless the children," Father Takenaka said quickly, his voice trembling and thinning as Enma Daioh pressed his giant boot down onto the weeping headmaster's chest. "Provide them guidance and nurturing when I am gone. Archangel Michael, stand guard, be vigil, and protect these young souls, let no evil bring them harm—"

With a second flash of light and sound, a second bullet pierced Takenaka's forehead and silenced his final prayers.

"Unfortunately, Father," Enma Daioh said, grinning as he put away his pistol and turned to walk away, "in the eyes of angels, we are all sinners."

It was Minamino's quickened breaths that drew Hiei's stare away from Takenaka's body after Enma left. He looked over and saw Minamino, bowed forward with his hair curtaining his face from view, clench the ground and pull up a fistful of roots and dirt. Minamino's near-hyperventilation and trembling ended bit by bit, though his trembling didn't quite completely end.

"We should go," Minamino said as he picked up a strap to Hiei's backpack. It surprised Hiei to hear his voice so wooden and cold. He had expected Minamino to be more frightened out of his wits and sickened. He had calmed himself so quickly.

Nonetheless, Hiei obeyed and stood up with him. He trudged behind him through the dark back to the campus, back to the dorms. Sitting on his windowsill in his open, unlit dorm room, Hiei stared out the window and tried his best to look anywhere but the cathedral spires or renotice the light on in the headmaster's empty office.

Minamino came in some time later with a cup of hot valerian tea in each hand, setting one on the desk by Hiei and drinking his cup down in a few gulps and leaving without saying a word. Hiei's tea turned cold and never moved from the desk.

In the dark moonless night, the yellow-green glow of fireflies flickered and faded like dying embers. Hiei stared idly at nothing and didn't even pretend to stare at the treetops and nearby mountains, couldn't see them even if he wanted to. Hours passed, and if he happened to nod off for a bit into another microsleep, Hiei never noticed. Regardless if he was awake or not, he dreamed of Father Takenaka on the ground praying for the students' safety with his head cracked open, blood and…other visible through the fractures.

He thought of his conversation with Kurama on the seaside cliffs and the reason for his research. If only Kurama's madness was not madness but genius and his test solution had brought back all the little dead lab mice… If only magic and miracles were real and a bolt of lightning was all that was needed to spark life anew…

Kurama had said that the Lord took good, innocent people away too soon for unfair, unjustified reasons and that was true. Hiei had seen his faithless words become reality. He was reminded of Sister Midori prattling on about God's love and His unknowable plan. He wondered if she would still think of her God as benevolent and merciful now that the headmaster was gone and Sacred Heart was left to bend to the will of Enma Daioh.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to bluesyturtle, DoomedTemperament, Nekrocake, Snow, Account Deleted (I think this was the haunted teaspoon?), Sky_Song, Rivalry_of_Destiny, Lily P., Ischemia, Candid_Ishida, Red_Lacquer, encore, and Raven for leaving a comment and well-wishes and I thank also all the readers that gave kudos and bookmarked this story since the last update. 
> 
> It's been a long while coming down this gentle slope but we're getting there. Matters are going to get complicated—emotions even more so. Also, as it will become apparent soon, Hiei's dreams do not get any better, only weirder, more uncomfortable, and focus a lot more on death. As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: There's very little I own. YYH's rights are not one of those things.

-o-

Chapter Twenty-Two: In Memoriam

-o-

Hiei had stumbled out of one dream into another and occasionally awoke in between memories. He was never awake for long as far as he could recall, though his memory of the past two days was hazy and disjointed, much like his dreams. His nightmares and reality had effortlessly interwoven themselves so finely it was difficult for him to say how much he had lived and what had been a dream. He knew now with certainty that he was awake, however. He was in his dorm room and he was alone. Summer break had come to an abrupt end and students were returning a day early. Father Takenaka's funeral would begin in an hour.

He had dreamed of him, repeating lectures and talks they had in his office mostly. Sometimes he would appear at the start or end of another dream nonsensically ushering him along a campus walkway lined with cherry blossom trees for dream logic reasons—in one instance, they were going to the store to get tea and he promised a much younger Hiei that if he was good, he could have cookies with his tea. As they came to a road, Takenaka would ask Hiei to hold his hand before they crossed and regardless whether he took his hand or refused, the man would appear and Hiei would never see what existed on the other side of the road.

Hiei had dreamed of morgues and crematorium ovens. He had dreamed of the man sliding his refrigerated drawer out and performing an autopsy on him, still very much alive and aware but unable to move or speak. As the man began to embalm him, truth and dream had blurred as a memory took control, sharpening his clarity as Hiei relived the man injecting him with a myriad of chemicals he never found out the names of or what they were intended for.

Strapped down to the gurney, he had watched the man note his vitals and reactions as the various poisons, which was all the strange liquids were to him, ravaged and wrecked his internal organs. Hiei had presumed that some of the chemicals and trial vaccines the man injected into him counterbalanced the harm from another as there were plenty of times he had felt like he was on death's door, only to find himself stitched up and alive once more. By all logic, it was a miracle that his body hadn't shut down but the man had clearly known what he was doing and had managed to keep him alive to experiment on him day after day.

Pale gray sunlight shone through a small gap in his curtains and disturbed his otherwise dark dorm room. Hiei turned away from the too bright, narrow ray of light and sat on the side of his bed. His mouth was dry, having not drank or ate anything in a little over two days. He found the tea Kurama had made still sitting on his desk untouched all this time and, against his better judgement for his greater need, he drank some.

Before he swallowed any, Hiei spat it right back into the cup. Wet was about the only thing it was. Kurama had warned that valerian tea was difficult to swallow to begin with and letting it grow cold and sit for two days had done nothing to improve its taste. As he hastily set the cup back down, he realized that he had not seen Kurama and he had not come by his room since Takenaka's death.

Hiei didn't know how he felt about that. His slurry of emotions were muddled together, leaving him feeling nothing strongly in particular. It was strange that Kurama had not come by but not surprising, he supposed. He wasn't sure. Hiei didn't know what to do and he was certain Kurama did not know either. He would have avoided Kurama too, perhaps, and in a sense, he had in a less voluntary manner.

Though he had plenty of black clothes, none of them were particularly formal. Hiei decided to wear his school uniform, as it wouldn't be inappropriate and it was clean. He walked slowly down the stairs as he begrudgingly made his way toward the cathedral. It wasn't that he didn't want to attend Takenaka's funeral—he just rather wished it was a more private affair. He didn't want to join and stand in file among the mass of confused but somber students gathering outside the cathedral waiting to pass beyond the chapel doors. Hiei wanted to be alone but Takenaka had earned at least this much of his respect.

Leaning on a tree on the campus lawn away from the rest of the student body, Hiei watched for any sign that the doors were open and students were allowed to enter. He overheard students questioning aloud about how the headmaster had died and others he heard thoughtlessly prattling on about how their summer break went. His jaw clenched tight, Hiei glared at a boy until the inconsiderate fool noticed him and he and his murmuring friends moved away. Hiei found the cry of the cicadas surrounding him less insulting and softer on his ears.

He did not see Kurama standing among the crowd or flocked by a gaggle of admirers questioning him incessantly—not that anyone knew that Kurama had seen the headmaster die but they would ask anyway to find out what he had heard and what he thought may have happened. Scouring the student body a second time, Hiei didn't see Kurama anywhere. Perhaps he wasn't attending the funeral at all.

It was hard to imagine, however, perfect, proper Kurama Minamino ever avoiding a social obligation because he personally needed to step away. By his own admission, Kurama always did what was expected of him and he would be expected to attend the headmaster's funeral. The fact that he was not here was surprising in the least, and disconcerting at its worst.

Lining up in two adjacent rows, students steadily began entering the cathedral. Hiei frowned as he reluctantly stepped away from the tree and headed over to get in line. Midway, he stopped as he noticed Kurama standing at the corner of an administrative building. He waited for him as Kurama trudged toward him. Even from afar but certainly up close, Hiei noticed that he wasn't the only one who hadn't slept well over the past two days. There were thin dark circles under his eyes and it wasn't simply a shadow effect from his head being tilted down.

Kurama stopped and stood beside Hiei and met his eyes briefly before canting his stare back down. Neither one said anything, not even a polite greeting, and walked together into the cathedral. As the last in line, they sat far in the back. Behind them sat several priests and many more sat in the first two rows alongside Takenaka's loved ones. Yusuke and Kuwabara sat closer to the middle with Botan and Keiko. Teachers stood beside the pews. Takenaka's casket, a rich, warm honey color accented in gold, lay closed up front, its head facing the altar. Whispers rolled from one student to another, wondering not quietly enough why the headmaster's casket was not open.

The Academy church choir led by Sister Midori sang hymns and the officiating priest in a white chasuble read psalms and traditional passages and led the room in prayer. As the congregation's voices joined with the choir in song, Hiei noticed that Kurama was not singing. He wasn't even mouthing the words. Several voices, particularly Sister Midori's, cracked and wavered through verses, as she and soon many students openly wept with her. Hiei did not cry but neither did Kurama.

Despite the brilliant green of his eyes, Kurama stared lifelessly at nothing in particular in front of him. There was not the slightest mist or emotion in his eyes. There was no tension or struggle in his face to hold onto his stoicism. Either he was firmly and absolutely in control or there was nothing within him to lose his grip upon. Hiei saw him blink occasionally and could see him breathing, but those were his only signs of humanity. He briefly considered touching his arm or shoulder to stir some spark of life out of him but the thought made his hands crawl.

When the funeral was over and Takenaka's loved ones and fellow priests left following the hearse, students were told to gather once more inside the cathedral. Sister Genkai spoke, first eulogizing the late headmaster and then announced that Doctor Pai would provide grief counseling to any student who requested but that classes would not be postponed and second term would begin tomorrow on schedule. Though she did not say outright or gave indication as to when a new headmaster would arrive, Sister Genkai did imply that the Academy was scrambling to find a successor for Father Takenaka. Until a qualified candidate was found, she would remain interim headmaster.

As students filed out from the cathedral, very few dispersed far from the front doors. Students scattered slowly, chatting amongst one another again on the headmaster's death or their summers and anything and everything in between. Noticing his arrival among them, a group of his admirers called out to Kurama and started walking toward him. As a girl began to ask him how he felt about Takenaka's passing, her words trailed off as she and her company looked on in bewilderment as Kurama walked right on by them in a noticeable rush without ever once looking up at her or acknowledging them in any way.

"Wow, Minamino must be taking Takenaka's death hard," Kuwabara said, as Kurama's admirers whispered and frowned among one another. One fellow even had the gall to accuse his quick leave without so much as a good morning as a bit rude.

"Yea, I've never seen him piss off his fan club," Yusuke said.

It was strange but not rude. Neither Hiei had ever seen nor had his admirers experienced Kurama brushing them off. It was a new sight for them both, one Hiei didn't mind and was particularly proud for him. Kurama normally catered to his classmates to maintain some ridiculous social front he had created his first year at the Academy. They asked for favors, stalled him with conversation, and showered him with constant attention and never once had he said no, walked on by, or ordered them to shut up. He gave into them more often than not and more often than was better for him.

Despite Hiei's approval of him doing so, Kurama didn't ignore his admirers and the fact that he had proved how terribly shaken he was.

"He's probably the only one of us that spoke to the old man on friendly terms," Kuwabara said, as the three of them strolled about with no certain end destination in mind, far as Hiei could tell. Their general direction indicated that they were headed toward the dining hall but it was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch.

"I'm surprised you're not more shaken up yourself, Hiei," Yusuke said. "You spent more time in his office than any of us."

"You've got three years here on me," Hiei replied. "I hardly believe that."

"The old man used to spend all morning calling me over the intercom," Yusuke said, as he leaned forward with his hands in his pockets toward Hiei. He was smirking again, this time with a bit more amusement and a little silent laughter. "That doesn't mean I ever went to his office."

"Until he tracked your ass down. I don't think there was a spot you could hide from him," Kuwabara said, smiling in a way that gave Hiei the impression he wasn't just talking about Yusuke. "That rat Akashi tried to screw me and my guys over before but Takenaka saw through his lying buck-teeth and set him in his place. Can't say I liked getting caught and serving detentions but at least the old man was fair."

Yusuke stood straight again. "Yeah, he ordered me around and couldn't keep his business to himself," he said, "but damn it if Iwamoto was being a raging dick, he always had my back."

There was nothing Hiei could say that wasn't more of the same. Despite reviling his authority and his incessant attempts to involve himself in his life with lectures and advice and questions of his well-being, he had to admit that Takenaka had been the closest thing to a parental figure he had ever had.

On his first day at the Academy, Takenaka had hoped for change in Hiei. He had thought back then that the headmaster had wanted to control him and make him into someone he wasn't but what he had wanted was for Hiei to realize that he could be better than what he was, or what he had believed he was. Several times for various reasons, and not all Hiei understood why, he had told Hiei he was proud of him. Takenaka had believed he had self-worth and had shown him a measure of respect few adults had.

Though none of them had been walking quickly, Yusuke paused in his step, bringing Kuwabara and Hiei to a stop a step after. He closed his eyes and looked down before raising his head up and smiling at the bright gray sky.

"…I'll miss ya, old man," Yusuke said softly and with sincerity and Kuwabara nodded in agreement.

The last to lift his head up to the sky, Hiei faintly murmured, "…Yeah."

-o-

Even though he knew without a doubt that something was wrong with Kurama and he knew what had caused it, Hiei thought it was best to wait before seeking his company. Kurama had come to the funeral for the same reason as Hiei—as a social obligation. It didn't mean that he was ready to face anyone or that his presence would be a comfort. Hiei knew well the need to be alone, the desire to hide and find oneself when all one's mental threads seemed to unravel all at once, and how irritating it was for someone—ironically, mostly Kurama—to interrupt and intrude on him before he was fully composed.

Though Hiei had to admit that several times Kurama's presence had helped him decompress quicker by giving him a target to rage on, a voice to listen to, a sweet scent to draw him forward, not back…

He had decided to wait until after dinner to search for him if Kurama did not show up himself. The return of the student body brought back the rumble of students' voices and the clatter and scratch of their plastic utensils and clomping footsteps. The dining hall had been mostly empty during summer break, so much so Hiei and Kurama typically had been the only ones there. Hiei had grown used to the near silence, aside from their own voices. Hiei decided to eat quickly, give Kurama enough time to appear if he was going to appear, and escape the clamor as soon as possible.

At least no one tried to sit with him, not that there was much of a chance that anyone would. As he scowled and pouted about there only being fruit salad for dessert, he saw Kurama leave the service line. He seemed unchanged from this morning, not that Hiei had expected him to be different even with isolation. He still looked tired and his head and eyes remained tilted downward. But knowing Kurama had means of cooking for himself, the fact that he had chosen to come to the dining hall to eat showed that he had restored enough of his composure to face others.

As long as he would talk, as long as they could talk, they could…figure out where to go from here was the best phrasing Hiei could come up with. Talking wouldn't let them make sense of what happened because there was no sense in Takenaka's death and finding closure was almost right, except it was far too soon and Hiei didn't know what sort of closure there was for them to find. Hiei didn't know what to do and Kurama didn't seem to either but maybe they could figure that out together. Perhaps that was what Kurama was thinking about this whole time. Hiei would ask him later, after dinner. For now, they would have to pretend to know nothing, to have seen nothing. Truth be told, even if they were just pretending that all was right and well, Hiei wanted to see Kurama and talk like they used to less than a week ago.

Not that Hiei could bring himself to say hello, much less hold a friendly conversation right now when all he wanted to do was talk and not talk about what happened. He supposed, as Kurama drew nearer, that one of them would say something after Kurama sat down. He hoped Kurama took the initiative to speak first. He usually did.

Halfway down the longtable, Kurama turned and sat down at the adjacent longtable among his surprised but nonetheless overjoyed and giddy-headed admirers. Eyes wide and sharp, Hiei didn't know what pissed him off more—the fact that he was sitting with his fan club or that he had greeted them with a smile as he joined them. It took every bit of his self-restraint to keep himself from standing up and cursing at him. Hiei sat and massively glowered at Kurama as he bashed and accused him mentally of things he knew were nonsense, unjustified, and far from the whole truth but Hiei wanted to be angry, even if Kurama was not at all everything he was actually angry about.

Yusuke and Kuwabara arrived and sat with him several minutes later. His fixated glare and foul mood didn't strike either one of them as odd. "Kurama not eating?" Yusuke asked.

"He's over there," Hiei said, still glaring at Kurama. He had yet to notice him or, more than likely, he was choosing to not look over and respond. It was impossible and illogical that he had not seen or felt him staring at him all this time.

"With his fan club?" Kuwabara said in foolish disbelief as he cautiously followed Hiei's sharp line of sight and saw over his shoulder Kurama sitting exactly where Hiei's glare indicated. "But he always sits with you."

_Yeah, I know_ , Hiei thought, his tightly clenched jaw aching. It didn't make sense. He had no reason or social obligation to sit with them, as far as Hiei knew. He didn't even like most of the classmates he was sitting with and the rest he was neutral toward at best.

"You two fighting?" Yusuke asked, raising an eyebrow as he paused mid-chew.

"No," Hiei said harshly. "He just…sat over there."

Kurama had just smiled and sat down. He hadn't said a word to anyone there and, though his admirers chatted incessantly around and about him, Kurama never offered any other direct response other than an occasional smile or a yes-no nod. Somehow it was always enough of a reply for his classmates and they never pushed him to say more. Hiei thought they were being polite, given Kurama's immediate flee at the slightest press about Takenaka's death, but he doubted that was the case. As he had overheard plenty times before, his admirers didn't need Kurama to say anything back to talk about him.

"You sure you didn't piss him off?" Yusuke asked. "Then again, Kurama's put up with a hell of a lot more from you and me and never left."

"We aren't fighting," Hiei growled.

"It's still weird…" Kuwabara grumbled. "It's a good thing you sit in the same spot every day. We never would've found you without Kurama's hair to show us where you are."

As Yusuke smirked and snickered, Hiei finally tore his glower away from Kurama and bared his teeth at Kuwabara in warning.

"H-Hey, I didn't mean it as a short joke!" Kuwabara said nervously, holding his hands up at chest-height in a stop-and-calm-down manner. "It's just…I mean…if you can spot him, you're usually with him."

For all his stupid way of saying it, much of what the oaf had said was not wrong. Even before summer break when it was practically just the two of them throughout the campus, they were almost always together. Sitting without him with no justifiable reason as to why he had chosen to sit elsewhere was strange. Takenaka's death was clearly bothering Kurama but for whatever reason, Kurama didn't want to talk to Hiei.

Perhaps he just wasn't ready. If he waited, Kurama would come talk to him later. He scowled sourly and huffed in impatience throughout dinner because he had to wait but he knew that Kurama wasn't going to ignore him forever. If the entirety of their friendship had taught Hiei anything, it was that Kurama would not leave Hiei alone.

-o-

Hiei wanted to know what the hell was wrong with Kurama. Three days had passed and he had waited and waited and never once did Kurama approach him. At first, he had thought he just needed to be alone, and Hiei understood and respected that, but now Hiei was certain he was avoiding him. Along with no longer sitting with him at meals, he hadn't seen him at all outside of his tutorial class and Kurama would leave immediately as soon as he dismissed them. Hiei had even skipped his classes to find Kurama at his but he would somehow lose him in the swarm of students congesting the halls as they shifted from room to room at the bell chime.

Since yesterday, Hiei had scoured the campus looking for him and had seen no more than a wisp of him at the far end of the library or heading down a stairwell. At times, he thought he was going mad again, chasing after him as he had the woman—whom he was not entirely certain had not been there. Logic wanted to tell him that she wasn't but then Hiei wanted to believe that she had been there because otherwise meant he was going mad. He told himself repeatedly that Kurama was there. He was just eluding and avoiding him, the fact of which brought him no greater ease of mind.

Just last night after Hiei had finally tracked him to the labs, he found his lab door locked, despite it being too late in the night to expect anyone else to intrude on him. Hiei had been enraged enough to consider pounding on the door but realized there was no point in knocking. If Kurama had wanted his company, he never would have locked the lab door in the first place.

Hiei sat at his desk and silently seethed as Kurama stood in front of the whiteboard and wrote out a list, including a definition and an example, of renewable energy sources. He had asked the class to name any type of energy and yet again he had avoided calling on Hiei. Whereas Kurama had used to ask Hiei first, or at least had him provide an answer every once in a while, Kurama hadn't called on him at all the past three days. He didn't even walk by his desk or personally passed out the daily worksheet anymore.

It was one thing to sit elsewhere in the cafeteria and it was an entirely other matter to avoid him but Kurama was acting (or trying to act) like Hiei didn't exist. He didn't just want to be alone. He wanted nothing to do with Hiei anymore. And while ultimately he could live with that, Hiei was pissed off that Kurama was being a coward and couldn't tell him to get lost himself.

In the final minutes of class, Hiei watched, his right leg bouncing on the support bar between the back legs of Yusuke's chair in front of him, as Kurama cleared the whiteboard, gathered his papers, and readied his school briefcase. At precisely three-thirty, the tutorial class ended, Kurama dismissed the class, and promptly left the classroom. Leaving his stuff behind, Hiei followed after him.

He stopped and stood in the middle of the hallway, the thin stream of students passing by halted only by a few groups of loitering students chatting here and there. Hiei called to Kurama, raising his voice only slightly above the prattle. Kurama ignored him and kept walking. Hiei shouted his name but only earned the apprehensive silence and bewildered stares of the hall.

Hiei clenched his fists at his sides and trembled with rage. "Don't ignore me, you pretentious asshole!"

The entire hallway watched on, more than a few murmuring to one another and fearfully asked what was going on or quietly voiced their miff and disbelief at Hiei calling their Kurama an 'asshole'. All the while, Kurama pretended that Hiei hadn't said a word. He had not replied at all in return and didn't give the slightest look back as he walked farther and farther down the hall.

Kurama was not going to blow him off. Hiei wasn't going to let him. He ran after him. The few students just passing by stumbled hastily out of his way as he barreled on through after Kurama, still leisurely making his way down the hall. Even if he did suddenly decide to run, Kurama couldn't outrun him. No one could beat him at a sprint, especially in a straightaway.

Reaching him in a matter of seconds, Hiei grabbed Kurama by the left wrist and wrenched him around to face him. The sudden jerk had made Kurama totter back a bit in his step but before he could balance himself, Hiei shoved him against a classroom door, the door rattling under the force. Students around him, especially the girls, gasped in shock. Hiei heard them shout at him but didn't hear nor cared what they had said.

Kurama didn't push back or struggle to free himself from Hiei's grasp. Even so, Hiei grabbed his other wrist and pinned him against the door. He wasn't going to saunter on by like Hiei didn't exist and nothing was wrong this time. Because something was wrong, and Takenaka's death mattered, and their friendship meant something…

Didn't it?

"Tell me…" Hiei said, his voice and arms shaking not entirely out of rage. "Tell me what's wrong."

Slowly, he raised his head and peered up at Kurama, staring not at him but above him and seemingly through the tile floor behind Hiei. Though he wondered if anyone among his admirers had noticed, there was an off-putting hollowness to his gaze and reactions. Kurama had shut down and giving him time had not helped at all.

"Say something, you bastard!" Hiei said, voice rising as he shook Kurama by the arms and glowered at him, all the while Kurama continued to avoid looking at him. "Don't ignore me when I'm right in front of your goddamn face!"

Anger at Kurama, at himself, at Takenaka's death and their helplessness to stop Enma, and his uncertainty and frustrations of what and where to go from here coupled by Kurama's persistent shunning of him flooded through him. He snappishly let go of Kurama's wrists and was about to punch him in the stomach to get him to talk when two teachers, one being Father Iwamoto, snatched him by the arms and dragged him away, still cursing and shouting at Kurama as he stood there statuesque, looking as cold and dead as marble and as pale and broken as alabaster.

-o-

Hiei sat on the curve of a leather chaise longue inside a small lab converted into Dr. Pai's office. Though the room was very much a cold, clinical lab, there was nothing in plain sight at least that was unexpected of a typical therapist's office.

Hiei distantly recalled going to a children's therapist after he was sent back to the orphanage. He recalled liking only her therapy cat because it had left him alone and let him read. While the orphanage director and the therapist talked in her office during what would be his last session, he had petted the cat, sat with it on the windowsill, and watched the rain together. The cat had wisely leapt off the windowsill before the therapist re-entered the room and saw that Hiei had finally interacted with something in her office.

He was surprised and on edge to see that the new school therapist was the woman with the rice ball hair. Dr. Pai sat with her legs crossed on the far right edge of her desk and read from an open file folder. Hiei saw nothing on his way to and inside her office that would have come from those wooden crates brought down into the basement labs by the Daioh Corporation's workers. Still nothing about her was reassuring. There was something prickly about her, something that gave Hiei the impression she was more interested in opening up her patients than letting them open up to her.

"You're a therapist…" Hiei said, guardedly in his choice of words and demeanor. "That explains the couch."

"Technically, I am first and foremost a psychologist, but I am also a practicing psychiatrist and a licensed therapist," Pai said, without looking up from her files. "The couch is a functional cliché. Afternoon naps do wonders to recharge the human body and mind."

"I know why I'm here," Hiei said bitterly and scowled as he turned away from her gaze, "but I'll deal with him myself."

"So you will, huh?" she said as she closed and set the file folder on her desk. "Seems like your method of dealing with him is what landed you in my office."

"It's none of your business," Hiei spat back.

"Dealing with the mind actually is my business. Your mind even more so, at the moment at least," she said with an utterly calm smile that unnerved Hiei to no end. She flipped open the folder on her desk again and made a show of searching for a name. "Let's see…Hiei Jaganshi. …Oh glorious, where I do even begin?"

"You start somewhere else." As he stamped toward the door, he watched as Pai's grin grew as she watched him leave. He soon understood why she seemed so smugly amused as he discovered that her office door was locked.

"Your sense of humor is abysmal," Pai said, lightly chuckling to herself. "Come now. Sit. We've got all the time in the world to chat. Aren't you blessed that I'm not charging you by the hour?"

"Unlock the door," Hiei ordered.

"No," she said tersely with all the humor gone from her face. Her seriousness did not last and she was quickly back to smirking at him. "Did you _seriously_ believe that would work?"

"I'm not talking to you."

"I'll get paid regardless," she said, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders, "and you'll be no different. Plus you'll have to serve detentions if you refuse to come. I'll clearly get the better deal out of this if you chose that outcome, so you might as well sit down and let us begin. Do it to spite me."

Refusing to obey and sit down, Hiei glared back at her. "What's the point of this?"

"You played a little rough with one of the other students." Her buoyant amusement was more than a little condescending and annoying.

"I only shoved him." Hiei ignored the fact that he was caught intending to punch Kurama in the stomach. It wasn't as if he had wanted to carry through with hitting him. He had just wanted to get some sort of reaction out of him. It was a terrible idea but Hiei didn't know what to do. Nothing else was working.

"Whether you go by the standard or legal definition doesn't matter," Pai said, as she placed her interlaced fingers on her top knee and idly bounced her right leg. "You did something you're not supposed to do and now you have to purge your sins in Hell."

Hiei frowned. "I'd rather be stretched out on a rack than talk."

"So you do have a sense of humor…" Her smile grew and stretched a hair more. "Glorious."

Avoiding her gaze and her smile, Hiei turned around and faced the door. Hell wasn't a far off comparison to being stuck in here with Pai. If Hiei had known that after the lab door closed that he was going to be trapped in a windowless room with that unsettling woman whom he wasn't uncertain didn't have a connection to the many crates the Daioh Corporation's workers had stacked and stocked throughout the basement labs, he never would have agreed to Genkai's punishment.

"I must say if you intended to not get caught, you probably shouldn't have chosen to bully the Academy's golden idol. Popularity like his assures that you would've been found out immediately. Fact that you assaulted him in the open makes me question your motives or wonder if you're just that stupid."

"If that's the best you can do," Hiei said, a warning growl slipping into his voice, "then you know nothing."

"You're not exactly a paragon of patience either," Pai said. "Kurama Minamino is your science tutor, correct? Receive a bad mark on your last test?"

"Cut the crap or unlock the door," a fed-up Hiei demanded, turning back around to face her. "I'm not staying to listen to your idiotic wisecracks."

"No, you're staying because you can't leave. And I've already gone over about why that is a poor choice, Jaganshi," Pai said, the tilt of her head upward casting an ominous bright glare over her glasses, "I am merely trying to understand the situation and your actions. Because according to my collected information, many of your classmates have in the past and would until now describe you and Minamino as being friends."

Scrunching his mouth to the side, Hiei looked away, back at Pai, and then off to the side again, neither confirming nor denying her words. They were, of course, but she didn't need to know that.

Hiei didn't know if his reaction told her anything but he was certain by her nigh-constant amused smirk that she was thinking something. "I am curious to know why you would want to hit someone you consider a friend," she said. "People who consider one another friends do not typically hit each other."

"I know two buffoons who would prove that otherwise," Hiei said.

"There are always exceptions to the rule," Pai replied, "but I do not get the impression that you and Minamino's relationship had such a dynamic."

_Relationship?_ His heart leapt at the word in alarm, but Hiei tried not to flinch or stare in any sort of obvious surprise. He did, however, swallow a gulp of air with a measure of difficulty.

"Facts get easily misconstrued and twisted. It's why it's called gossip," Hiei lied. "You can't rely on what other people have said."

Pai seemed pleased by his logic and tipped her head to the side in agreement. "In any case, you spend a considerable amount of time together outside of his tutorial class. This would be unremarkable if it weren't for your complete repulsion and avoidance toward the vast majority of the student body. You actively resist social interaction and seek isolation. Any and all attempts to be civil with you are met with derision and hostility. And yet Kurama Minamino is your exception."

"Or he's too foolish to leave me alone," Hiei countered.

"It's also difficult to get away from someone when they race after them and pin them to a door."

Having no explanation or justification in reply, a silenced Hiei bared his teeth and winced in discomfort. Hoping she had not seen, he quickly covered up her exposed truth with cold fury. "He pissed me off," he said tersely, "just like you're doing."

"Don't make it sound like I've done the impossible. The records stand that that's not a very difficult thing to accomplish," Pai said. "It's why you're here. To talk and face your anger and maybe, just maybe you won't be an angry little shit with nowhere to go and no one to turn to after you get out of here."

Clenching his shaking fists at his sides, Hiei was done talking with Pai. "If that's what you're planning, you can go f—"

"It's what Takenaka hoped for," Pai said sternly, once again becoming serious. She even stopped bouncing her leg. "You're why he hired me."

At a loss for words again, Hiei stood by the door and stared at Pai with a mix of confusion and wariness. She waited patiently as his thoughts came together. He clearly didn't like her and he certainly didn't trust her. But Father Takenaka had apparently hired her with Hiei in mind, though he wasn't entirely sure what he had intended to accomplish with that. Well, yes, Hiei did know. She had just told him. He had hired her on the hopes and basis that she would help him become better. She intended on changing Hiei, on making him a different person. She had said so herself.

Fuck that. He would rather take detentions. Even for the rest of the school year if he had to.

"Open the damn door," Hiei said with finality in his voice.

Pai shrugged her shoulders once and rose from her seat on the edge of her desk. Hiei watched her as she stared and smiled at him in that way that sent warnings sluicing down his back as she walked over, unlocked her office door with her keys, and opened the door for him. Hiei stormed out of her office and the Science Hall, his skin wriggling as he felt her eyes still on him as he left. He didn't know which he hated more—her staring at him or the confidence in her eyes that he would be back in her office soon enough.

-o-

Hiei sat in the dark of the library's small theater watching the Academy's surprisingly broad collection of old sci-fi and horror B-movies. Even if it wasn't Sunday, Hiei still would've skipped all his classes and holed himself up in the tiny theater all day, watching bad flick after bad flick. He had started his movie marathon about half an hour after a quick breakfast without Kurama and then after raiding the dorms for money, sweets, or microwaveable popcorn bags while most of the Academy was attending Mass.

He was in his fifth hour and his fifth movie—a lot of these older films were no longer than an hour—and he had just started _Attack of the Giant Leeches_ when some moron opened the theater door and the bright florescent lights of the library shone into the otherwise dark room. The idiot was either just standing there, watching the film, or was trying to figure out who was in here without asking, or had left entirely and stupidly hadn't closed the door behind them.

Distracted and annoyed by the light, Hiei swiftly turned around in his seat to see if anyone was still there and, if so, was going to curse at the gawking idiot and tell them to get the hell out. The light was jarring to his eyes and made him squint but he could see quite plainly that someone was standing in the open doorway. As he winced and grimaced in pain as his aching eyes readjusted to the intruding light too slowly, he realized that the idiot standing in the light was Kurama.

Hiei frowned, more so in confusion than in anger, and watched and eventually turned around in his seat to face the black and white movie as Kurama closed the door behind him, walked along and around the back row, and in time sat beside Hiei. Only a single chair separated them, and while this was the closest Kurama had voluntarily been around Hiei in a week, he still seemed painfully distant. Shoving him against a classroom door was only a fraction of the reason why.

"So you finally grace me with your presence… I'm not going to giggle with joy like your admirers," Hiei smarted off spitefully. He didn't want to sound mean or angry with Kurama—fact he wanted to feel quite the opposite because Kurama was no longer avoiding him—but his anger came through first and foremost nonetheless.

Kurama didn't say anything. Yet again, he stared vacantly at the projected movie, as a portly man begged and pled with his thin, attractive wife to behave—Hiei had first thought she was his rebellious daughter with the way she was acting and the loud records she was blaring and by her apparent husband's scolding. So far, believing that this woman would be married to that man was more of a strain on his disbelief than the yet-revealed giant leeches.

"So what? Your admirers your friends now?" Hiei asked bitterly. "At least they got a smile or nod from you."

"Hardly," Kurama said quietly. Getting an actual answer out of Kurama genuinely surprised Hiei. Wide eyed, he turned his head toward Kurama and listened. "There are few people I consider my friends. None of them are among my admirers."

"The majority of the Academy would disagree."

"I imagine they would," Kurama said, "but that does not validate their claims. Believing wholeheartedly in anything does not make it truth."

Though he did not show it, Hiei was happy to be talking to Kurama again and enjoyed their familiar banter. Amid their recent torrent of shock, uncertainty, and grief, finally having some form of normalcy was such a gentle comfort. Hiei couldn't settle himself too snugly into this ease, however. He could tell that all was still not right and well with Kurama.

"I apologize for my actions this week. I did not wish to disturb you as I inevitably did. But I could not be around…" As his hastily spoken words trailed off into silence, Kurama bent forward in his seat and wrapped his arms around his own waist as if he was hugging himself or was in the grips of a terrible stomach pain. He let his bangs and sidetails fall forward and obscure what little of his face that could be seen in the movie's light.

"I thought foolishly that if I went back to how everything was before I met you, it would change matters, that it would make everything right. I've clearly done something wrong, as all was good and well for me then and now it's not."

Kurama crumpled forward a little deeper in his seat as he struggled to maintain his false composure. "I can't fix it," he strained to speak and his voice cracked. "I can't undo what's been done. It's out of my control…"

Kurama was shaking. Hiei watched, utterly bewildered.

"I did everything right but it didn't matter. So clearly I have done something wrong because if I've done everything right, nothing bad would have happened, right?"

Hiei didn't know what the hell was going on and it terrified him. Kurama wasn't making sense and Kurama was never anything but logical and reasonable. Even when he had told Hiei of his mad science to cure death, Hiei had never thought he was insane. Foolish and futile, yes, and perhaps a touch mad but he was still within his rational mind.

"For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction," Kurama muttered to himself. "Things do not simply happen without reason. If there is a cause, there is an effect."

No, this wasn't madness either, Hiei realized. It was survival. It was fear. Both Hiei recognized and knew well. For Hiei, it was like he was running. If even a thought of the past began to creep forward, Hiei ran and searched for something else to take his attention farther and farther away. He scattered up other thoughts to diffuse and deter the memory from growing and taking him over. Even when he was in the grips of a budding flashback, he would run down any mental avenue, any imagining, following connection after connection as long as it led him away from the past.

Figuratively and literally, Hiei ran. Kurama analyzed the situation to its smallest component and tried to deduce a logical solution and, when logic failed him, slipped into muttering mantras to reaffirm to himself of how the rational world worked. Both were solutions to the same problem. Both helped them cope and rebuild.

"Some things defy categorization. Some explanations won't fit just so," Hiei said, briefly considering and then promptly dashing the thought of moving over to the next seat to be closer to Kurama out of his mind. "Things happen every day, every second of your life that has nothing to do with you and you can't control. But it's not your fault. It simply is."

Hiei didn't know what to do or say and didn't know if anything he could say or do would be any help at all but if it would help Kurama focus and collect himself, he was willing to talk and listen. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and snuck glances over at Kurama from time to time, as he muttered inaudibly to himself and attempted to control his breathing.

When Kurama in time appeared outwardly calm, Hiei said, "You won't find a reason why for a tragedy."

"He was a good man," Kurama said, a slight shake remaining in his voice.

"Good people die right alongside the bad ones," Hiei replied matter-of-factly.

Kurama brought his hands up to his face and laid his forehead in his hands. "It makes no sense."

"Death doesn't have to have a reason and most of the time death won't," he said, angling himself in his seat toward him. "It's not a problem you can fix, Kurama."

"There has to be a reason," Kurama insisted otherwise.

Though he tried to remain calm for Kurama, Hiei breathed a bullish snort and scowled in frustration. "You can't live your life trying to make sense out of the senseless," he growled.

Glaring at Hiei, Kurama dropped his hands away from his face, raised his head up, and sharply said, "My father didn't die for no reason!"

It was the sight and sound of Kurama raising his voice at him that shocked Hiei at first but after that initial wave of astonishment crashed, Hiei was able to understand what he had said.

Kurama had only spoken of his father once or twice, always in conjunction to his mother, and always shifting the focus of his story more toward her. Hiei had never asked him about his father, deeming it not his place or of any interest to him. In retrospect, it seemed so clear that Kurama had actively avoided the subject with reason—his father had died, and of unfortunate, unnatural circumstances, Hiei surmised.

Realizing he had shouted at Hiei, Kurama stared in apology before canting his eyes down into the darkness. He sat up straighter in his seat but he was far from relaxed. Laxly interlacing his fingers, he let his hands rest in his lap and said quite calmly, "Family was everything to my father. It did not matter if he had just arrived home from a twelve-hour shift, there was always just enough sunlight left in the day to play at the park after dinner."

"While I have always loved and cherished my mother, when I was little, I thought the world of my father. We always shared little time together each day and his vacations were few and farther between, however what little time we had, he made sure to make it wonderful. I never noticed growing up how tired he was because he was always smiling."

"My father worked himself to exhaustion so we could move from our literal one-room apartment to a modest house just outside the city. Even so, I recall on our first night in our new house, we all slept together on our futons in the living room like we did in our apartment."

Kurama paused just for a moment and smiled softly to himself.

"Father always humbly admitted that our new house wasn't much but it would do. After living essentially in one room for years, having separate bedrooms, a wall between the kitchen and the living room, multiple closets, that house seemed like a mansion. We knew he was proud of the house and we were proud of him."

The joy and warmth glistening in his eyes brimmed into tears as his memories and reality weighed his head and shoulders down. His bottom lip quivering with emotion, Kurama continued on without pause, his voice instantly growing wooden and cold. "...I w-went to the store one day with Mother. As she gathered our grocery bags, she handed me her keys and told me to unlock the door and to tell Father we were home. I took the keys, a bag of groceries, and hurried to set them in the kitchen."

Kurama began to speak more hastily and his trembling returned, albeit faintly and most distinctly in his hands. "I don't r-recall exactly why I was rushing—I wasn't an excitable child, even at six-years-old, but Father was on vacation and we were going to play Goblin City when Mother and I returned—but I was hurrying and slipped on the kitchen floor. I wasn't hurt but I had scattered the groceries I brought in everywhere."

"Through the table and chair legs, I saw my father on the kitchen floor. I scrambled onto my knees and crawled around the table to reach him. For years I tried to convince myself that it was soy sauce spilled on his chest and across the floor or that I had slipped on a freshly-cleaned floor. My self-persuasion never worked."

"He w-was still alive but just for a moment. Mother came in…screamed…" He turned his head away and said nothing more. Hiei could not see Kurama's face well from his angle in the dark but his bottom lip was indeed still quivering and in the right flash of light, he saw a tear streak down his cheek.

Kurama began to sob softly, gasped for a breath, and then wiped away his eyes with the back of his hand. They sat in near silence, aside from the movie playing in front of them and Kurama's occasional barely audible exhale. Kurama quickly calmed himself, perhaps too hastily.

"The investigation was thorough but laughable," Kurama continued, his voice more stern and cold than wooden now. "The truth, it seems, died with my father. With no evidence, no witnesses, and not a lead, we received condolences and sympathy but no justice. Detective K. Sanada gave Mother a heartfelt apology for her failure before she retired but her words brought us no comfort or peace."

"I cannot bring back my father, I know that, however if I can create a means to reverse death, then…I don't have to worry anymore. If my father's murderer ever came back for my mother, for me, I would be prepared."

Hiei had thought that Kurama's endeavor to cure death, to provide a means to alleviate suffering was more of a vanity project to prove his mental superiority by accomplishing the impossible. It hadn't occurred to him until now that perhaps the Academy's golden boy had not lived a wholly perfect and blessed life.

"And until my research bears a solution, I decided that I had to control and manage my life. If I am perfect, nothing can or will ever go wrong. If I smile and pretend to be happy, then everyone around me will be happy. If everyone likes me and is to some extent my friend, then no one will want to do me harm. Same begets same. Do unto others. The ends justify the means."

_Wear a mask so tight, it bonds to your skin,_ Hiei thought, _and then no one can see that you're afraid._

As Hiei did not know what to say in return, silence fell between them. Hiei inattentively looked at the movie screen and had little idea of what was going on and did not care, even as the portly man led his cheating wife and friend out into the swamp with a shotgun. The only thing that could draw his attention away from Kurama beside him would be a giant leech finally showing up.

"On multiple occasions, you asked me why I chose you as a friend..." Kurama said.

Raising an eyebrow in alarm, Hiei did not like nor wanted to hear why. Not now. "You said there was no reason."

"Yes, and no," Kurama said. "I did choose you. Not immediately and not deliberately. I simply realized over time and interaction that you met certain criteria."

Hiei glowered at Kurama. "Like what and what for?" he said tersely.

"I wanted a friend," Kurama said, raising his head up and meeting Hiei's eyes. Even in the flickering light dimly cast from the black and white movie, Kurama's eyes were impossibly green. "There was no one I could talk to and be heard with, no one I could trust implicitly. Four years had passed and I was drawn to no one.

Digging his fingernails into the plush of the left armrest of his chair, Hiei had made it clear to Kurama that he could not tolerate being lied to or used. If he was going to tell him after all this time, after he told him not to, after he swore he had never, that he had lied to him…

"Most of the Academy are idle, well-to-do heirs more concerned with their appearance and socializing than anything else in this world. They have never known once in their priviledged lives what it means to suffer. I find it difficult to tolerate such ignorance."

Kurama wasn't giving him a good enough answer quick enough. "Why _exactly_ did you choose me as a friend then?"

"Because you were different," Kurama replied. "Because—"

_I was a novelty to you?_ That was the way Hiei was interpreting his words. _Because I didn't kiss your ass?_ Hiei clenched his jaw tightly. He wasn't sure or not if he would spit at Kurama once he explained what he meant by 'different'.

"I do not know if this is true," Kurama said with the slightest hesitation, "however, I am under the impression that you know what it is like to suffer."

_Wrong. Fucking. Answer._

"You chose me out of pity?" Hiei snarled bitterly as he shot up from his seat. "Fuck off, Minamino."

"No, Hiei, wait… Pity had nothing to do with why," Kurama called out to him as he stamped off, and for some stupid reason, Hiei stopped. "I wanted someone who would understand."

Hiei turned partially around and looked back at Kurama, staring back at him from his seat.

"You were first person I had met that knew uncertainty and fear as something greater than a petty worry that your parents would buy you the wrong car for your birthday," he said. "I realized that you might be someone I could tell about my father and you would not pretend to commiserate with me."

"I do not wish to be pitied. I do not want to hear how terrible that must have been or how brave I am. I do not want to be told how heal. I will do that on my own and I will ask for advice if I want it. I just wanted someone who would listen…" Despite the terrible angle casting his face mostly in darkness, Hiei could just barely see Kurama smile at him. "Thank you for just listening."

His mouth parted open but Hiei had no reply. Closing his mouth, a softly-frowning Hiei peered down and watched his step as he walked back to his seat row. He sat down not in his old seat but one seat over and next to Kurama.

Though he doubted that Kurama had any interest in the movie, he nonetheless stayed and pretended to watch. Hiei wasn't sure how he felt about that—it was great to have his company once more and yet as he sat next to him, the scent of berries and sugar clashing with the smell of microwave popcorn, Hiei started remembering why he had been in the forest when Takenaka had died. He still wasn't sure why he had sat next to him anyway, knowing that only a palm-width of armchair separated them. He hoped that Kurama would not wrap his arm around his shoulders.

"If I wanted to talk…" Hiei asked with a measure of reservation. He was glad that the darkness would obscure his reddened cheeks. "…Would you listen?"

"Of course," Kurama said, without peering away from the movie thankfully.

Though he sat leaning away from Kurama, for just a moment, Hiei entertained the thought of shifting in his seat so that he leaned toward Kurama. But that was just ridiculous, pointless even. And Kurama could possibly misconstrue that as an invitation to actually wrap his arm around his shoulders and there was no way in hell Hiei was going to permit that.

Glancing away, Hiei, pink warming his cheeks, gave the slightest of smiles before focusing back on the movie as the giant leeches that were no more than stagehands in squid costumes patted and rubbed their foam suckers and tentacles over their screaming and instantly-fainting actors, their necks and faces smeared with what was no doubt chocolate syrup simulating blood.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to bluesyturtle, Rivalry_of_Destiny, Raven, Ventris, alittlewhitedove, Candid_Ishida, Sky_Song, Snow, Llyr, Littlegraycat, Spirallily, Meru, Nekrocake, Crystal, TheSilverMoon for commenting and to all the readers that left kudos since the last chapter.
> 
> Ah, finally, this chapter is complete. I don't think I've been so frustrated with a chapter in my life. By the time I figured out the problem it was the holidays and I got very little writing done during this seasonal. Since the chapter was looking like it was going to be well over 10,000 words, I wound up splitting the chapter. Which, believe it or not, is more in line with my original outline than the massive chapter it was going to be.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading.

Story Title: In the Eyes of Angels

Disclaimer: There's very little I own. YYH's rights are not one of those things.

-o-

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Mouse Is Just A Mouse (Except If It's Named Minamino)

-o-

Down in the library archives, Kaitou searched. As always, the printed word was Kaitou's most reliable ally and weapon. Everything he wished to know, all the answers he sought he could find written down if he scoured long enough. While the reason for Minamino's peculiar reaction to his day planner could be entirely private, Kaitou decided to check archived newspapers for potential answers. That and he didn't have any other options. Minamino was never going to slip up, the storymongers embellished their tales too often to be trustworthy sources, and he doubted that any of Minamino's friends or admirers knew anything more about him than Kaitou did.

Having spent a fraction of his summer break pouring through articles at the library in his hometown, he couldn't wait to return to the sprawling stacks and organized catalogs of the Academy's library and escape his hometown's intellectual desert. While he had no need in this case to search through microfilmed papers from the 1920's, at least here he had the opportunity. He supposed that the library back home served his community well but Kaitou had read through everything at least twice by the time he was ten.

Kaitou's summer break had yielded fewer results than he had hoped. He had been forced to appear at a potluck get-together and reading in his honor after his local library at long last received some fresh materials, including a copy of his first book. Kaitou had to admit the evening had been...not as irritating as he had predicted and his town's congratulations had sounded surprisingly sincere, though his book remained unchecked out. At least he had proved to himself and more importantly he could prove to Minamino that he could tolerate a night of meaningless small talk. The great Kurama Minamino did not need to be Sacred Heart's only representative at every public function.

His search was not a daunting, tedious hunt but one of patience and methodical attention, two qualities Kaitou possessed in spades. Kaitou had eliminated the obvious and ignored any time before Minamino was born and his four years at Sacred Heart. He had managed to cross off the first four years while he was home and was now working on the fifth.

Sitting and winding through microfilm after microfilm of decade-old newspapers, Kaitou began to think he was obsessed. Why was he here? Why did he care so much to waste his time? He could hardly chalk up his actions as revenge. Aside from besting his final score time after time, Minamino had never done anything to Kaitou. Minamino's grades were superior overall to his, but as it pertained to the literary arts and the written word, Kaitou had no equal. It was in the literary arts where his passions resided anyway. Minamino could have biology and chemistry. He could have a roadside fruit stand for all Kaitou cared.

Quite frankly, Minamino irritated him, but simple pettiness was not the entire answer. Kaitou wanted to prove that Kurama Minamino did not walk on water as he had fooled everyone in believing. If there was anything Kaitou could not tolerate, it was hypocrisy, and the great Kurama Minamino was nothing more than an act. People were flawed and people who pretended they had no flaws and ignored their own ugliness were liars.

_Minamino lies,_ Kaitou thought as he loaded the next microfilm. _He doesn't deserve all the recognition he gets. What_ real _accomplishments has he made this year?_ _Sure, he volunteers for charities but how sincere are his intentions and how much of it is just_ _a ploy to maintain his image?_

Minamino aced tests and was a pleasure to meet and greet. In the same year, Kaitou had published his third book to little acclaim and yet Minamino's homework had landed him on the cover of a magazine. If he started folding origami hats, he would become a fashion icon no doubt.

Gently forwarding the microfilm, Kaitou stopped and stared in utter bewilderment at a photo. It couldn't be what he thought it was. No reputable paper would publish something like this. It couldn't be real. It had to be some sort of distasteful B-movie promo. He quickly righted the page with the rotation knob and focused in on it. He thought it was an alien but it was human. Or at least it was the bare bones of a human.

Never had Kaitou been so repulsed and fascinated. The photo was of an emaciated child, naked from the waist up, laying in a hospital bed. He noticed the thumb and forefingers of an adult hand in the top-right corner delicately gripping the child's arm to keep the child facing the camera. The child's tiny arm looked like it would snap like a stick of raw spaghetti if its captor so much as pinched it. There were enough scar lines and stitches across the boy's body to give his skin a patchwork look, an effect enhanced by the plethora of bruises in various stages of healing and inflamed puncture holes.

This was not at all what he had been searching for but macabre awe wrenched his attention to this. He quickly scrolled down to the article below headlined in bold print, "Police Find Boy In Basement", and read through its entirety.

The strangest part was that Kaitou was certain that he had seen the child before. It was the eyes. He recognized the catatonic, dead look. It was the same thousand yard stare Jaganshi fixed on the Academy when he wasn't glaring at anyone. As impossible as it sounded, he knew he wasn't mistaken. The reporter legally could not name the boy but, given the child's estimated age provided in the article and the paper's print date, Kaitou calculated that the boy would be around fifteen now. The math fit Jaganshi. The eyes matched Jaganshi even more.

Kaitou wondered if Minamino would agree…

Another hour and a half later, Kaitou left the library with a copy of the boy's photo and the reason for Minamino's reaction. Uncovering his father's unsolved murder was the first truth but, if Kaitou was certain of anything, it was no doubt one of many Minamino was keeping. As tragic and damaging to a young boy's mind as the murder had to have been, Minamino's sob story interested him far less than the photo. And besides, if Kaitou was bent on exposing Minamino's imperfections, he needed more ammo than his father's murder. He wanted damnation for Minamino, not sympathy.

Well, if he could not get the Academy to damn Minamino, Jaganshi sure would, publicly if fortune and probability favored Kaitou. While he had no concrete evidence that Hiei Jaganshi was the boy in the photograph, whether he was did not matter. Kaitou simply had to plant the possibility in Minamino's head and let Minamino's own prying nature ruin him.

Because the only person that was more secretive than Kurama Minamino was Hiei Jaganshi. Saying so much as 'Good morning' to him earned his classmates a glare and a silent threat. Asking him if the police ever found his barely-living corpse in a basement was bound to spark a powderkeg of accusations and truths about Minamino. All Kaitou had to do was light the fuse and wait.

-o-

It was not long before the Academy gathered in the auditorium to welcome a new headmaster. While not unexpected, it was an entirely ill-timed spit in the face for Enma Daioh to be there, sitting on the stage among the Board of Trustees, as Sister Genkai formally introduced Takenaka's young successor. Hiei and Kurama sat scowling at the seats in front of them, unable to stomach watching Enma smirk with pride as his son, Enma Daioh Jr., accepted the headmaster's position.

Father Koenma, as he preferred to be known, was the youngest priest Hiei had ever seen and he had more than likely just earned his priest's collar before his father paved the way for him to take the role of headmaster at Sacred Heart. Much of the gossip swirling around campus was not about the blatant nepotism of the new headmaster being the son of the Head of the Board of Trustees but about how cool and handsome the young priest was and how unfortunate it was that he had decided to dedicate his life to the cloth. Yusuke smarted off days later that Father Koenma could tattoo Jr. on his forehead and still no one would remember that he was Enma's son.

Hiei had to admit that Enma and his son seemed to only share a name and brown hair. Everything else, at least on the surface, seemed to point that Koenma was a better man than his father. Despite no proof of the contrary, neither Hiei nor Kurama wanted to believe that Koenma was simply a dedicated man of the cloth. At least they didn't have to refer to him as Father Daioh. The faculty, of course, referred to him as such as a formality but even they stumbled on his surname. After all, it was difficult to associate a Daioh as being a man of God.

Not a day went by in the weeks that followed that Hiei and Kurama didn't consider ways to tell the authorities that Enma Daioh had killed Father Takenaka. From what they had gathered from news reports and overheard from officers and investigators, very little viable evidence had been left at the crime scene. Someone with a hell of a lot of manpower and expertise had combed and cleaned the area to a pristine state, well, as pristine as a forest could be.

Neither one believed that the police would take a single, stray anonymous tip accusing Enma of murder seriously. But even if they came forward and the police believed them, Enma Daioh would no doubt swoop in, drop a few billion yen down wherever he needed it to go, and remove anyone unswayed by his generous donations before any real charges came to pass. Enma Daioh was more than a man of power. He was a force of money and nothing spoke louder over the word of two students than money. Both of them knew that even if they did come forward Enma would make damn sure they never had a chance to tell their story twice.

The only choice they seemed to have at the moment was to keep quiet, put on a mask, and hoped it fit. In the span of twenty minutes at their proposed study session, Yusuke and Kuwabara were making it very difficult for either Hiei or Kurama to feign ignorance. The four had met in Hiei and Kuwabara's dorm room and were going over Kurama's current lesson but it was clear that discussing cellular structures wasn't at the forefront of Yusuke's mind.

Tossing his pencil into his lap, Yusuke put his hands on his knees and breathed a frustrated sigh. "No one really talks about the old man anymore. It pisses me off that this toddler comes in and everything's hunky-dory now," he said, earning a weird look from Kuwabara, sitting on his bed beside Kurama. "Okay, so he's not a toddler but he looks like he graduated last year."

It was nearly the final week of September and just as the first of autumn had ushered out the summer heat and prepared the leaves to turn so too had the appointment of a new headmaster calmed the uncertain student body and steered the Academy toward normalcy once more.

"Yea, seems like the Academy has moved on," Kuwabara said, taking the new topic as a sign they were taking a break and leaned back, keeping himself propped up by his hands. "You guys happen to hear anything new?"

"...Sorry, no," Kurama said rather tersely but without sounding rude as Hiei scrunched up his mouth and turned his head to the side. Kuwabara blinked at his wordless response but seemed to get the answer. With the investigation on going and no real new news to report, predictably there hadn't been a report on Takenaka's death since the announcement of Father Koenma replacing him.

"If my mom's obsession with forensic crime shows has taught me anything, they had to have found something," Yusuke said.

"The forest floor was purged of any and all evidence," Kurama said and then much more encouragingly, in hopes of moving their discussion past Takenaka, asked, "Kuwabara, can you name for me three parts found within an animal cell?"

No amount of subtle hinting or steering the conversation away was going to force Yusuke along. Once he actually gave thinking a try, he usually stubbornly stuck with a problem until he figured out an answer he could live with. "Weren't there some footprints found? I think I heard something going around campus."

_It's a lie,_ Hiei hoped.

"Unfortunately, you can only take the words of the storymongers for a grain of salt," Kurama said. "They do have a tendency to exaggerate the truth and lie outright if it makes for interesting gossip."

"But I can't see anyone making up junk about Takenaka's death," Kuwabara said, after naming two out of the three requested answers."I don't know if this was what you heard, Urameshi, but I heard police found two different sets of footprints in the bushes not far from where Takenaka's body was found."

_They did?_ Hiei swallowed his breath. He hadn't heard anything about that and from Kurama's tense frown and judicial stare weighing the possibilities, neither had Kurama.

"Kurama, what do you think about this?" Yusuke asked. "I know that you've given this some thought."

"Well, yes, I have," Kurama said and put on a half-hearted smile in agreement. "However, there are too many unknowns for anyone to really speculate anything with accuracy. Even so, given the man he was, I cannot imagine that Takenaka would be involved with or connected to any sort of shady or illicit activities. He had to have been an opposition, an obstacle to someone that needed him forcibly removed from power."

"Like a hit?" Kuwabara blinked in incredulity. "Geez, this is some yakuza-level might."

"It's bullshit, that's what it is. The old man deserved better than to be left a cold case," Yusuke growled. "I can't see how no one saw anything. If the footprints aren't the hitmen, then two people saw Takenaka get shot and they need to come forward."

Hiei really wished Yusuke would shut the hell up already. It was getting harder for Hiei to sit in silence next to him and just stew in his own hate as he listened to him yammer on about Takenaka. _You think we don't want to—_ Hiei bit down on his tongue before the words had the chance to slip out. An ache spread through his back and down his spine as Hiei bent forward and pulled himself into a smaller lump. He had just wanted to keep himself from lashing out at Yusuke but then the pain reminded him of the Box and he started to see it around him...

"It may not be that easy, Yusuke," Kurama said. "Coming forward means stepping into the spotlight and exposing themselves and the people around them to retaliation."

"They're cowards, that what it is," Yusuke said. "They're willing to let a murderer go free just to save their own necks."

_We're no_ _t—_ pain arched through Hiei's jaw as he clenched his teeth to keep from cursing out Yusuke. Hiei wanted to leave, and by all means he knew that he should—and he could, he reminded himself repeatedly to keep the walls from tightening in around him. He could leave the room at any time, unlike the Box.

The only reason he stayed was because in their many talks after Takenaka's death, Kurama had advised that they take caution in how they behaved around people talking about Takenaka. Since Hiei avoided just about everyone, he didn't have much to worry about, except when he was around Yusuke and Kuwabara. Maybe they'd brush off him leaving suddenly as nothing out of the ordinary and then again, after another strangely sudden leave, they might stubbornly press into why he seemed to avoid talking about Takenaka and wind up opening their big mouths in the wrong place.

Hiei wasn't the only one that wanted Yusuke to shut the hell up already, however.

"Heedlessly electing to become a target and being silenced early on will not bring justice either," Kurama replied, a harshness lining his otherwise calm voice. "In any case, it's easy to say how a person should respond to a given situation. It's another matter entirely when those same people are placed in the same position. They tend to not follow their own words."

"I know what I'd do," Yusuke said, oblivious to the warning. "March right up to the son of a bitch that did it, grab him, beat his ass if he puts up a fight, and throw him into jail myself."

_You'd be shot before you touched Enma,_ Hiei thought while Kurama's dull stare and frown expressed the same sentiment.

"I get how you feel, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, raising an eyebrow at Yusuke, "but I'm pretty sure that only happens in old American cowboy movies."

"All I'm saying that the murderer didn't give a damn about the laws when he killed Takenaka so why should we let the laws protect him?" Yusuke said, placing his hands on his knees as he slouched forward.

"Why, of course, have these laws in the first place if people are going to break them," Kurama said and didn't even try to hide his sarcasm.

Tossing him a glare, Yusuke sighed loudly. "Okay, I get it. I'm just pissed, all right?" he said, lifting his hands in surrender. "You don't have to knock everything I say."

"I'm just playing devil's advocate," Kurama said much more amicably and smiled.

Believing that Kurama had been kidding with him the entire time, Yusuke slowly stretched his frown into a smirk. "And here I always imagined you as the nagging shoulder angel."

Before Kurama could smooth matters more, Kuwabara suddenly hollered and scrambled backwards until he pushed himself halfway up the wall. "Gah! It's a rat!" he squawked. "Somebody smash it!"

" _Don't you dare,_ " Hiei threatened as Minamino the mouse skittered across his bed and passed by Yusuke, who only raised an eyebrow as he watched her run by. It wasn't necessarily the mouse that was most interesting to Yusuke but rather the 5,000 yen note she was carrying in her mouth.

Crawling onto his leg, Minamino the mouse stopped and stood onto her back legs and presented the yen note to Hiei. Hiei traded her a vanilla shortbread cookie for the cash, an exchange the mouse was all too happy to make.

"Did you seriously teach that mouse to pickpocket for you?" Yusuke said, grinning.

Hiei saw no reason to answer him, as the fact that he had was clearly on display. As Minamino the mouse scurried up his leg with the cookie in her mouth, Hiei gently scooped her up and placed her inside his shirt pocket. After a bit of customary rolling around, the mouse settled and started nibbling on her reward.

"Well, she certainly has slimmed down since the last I saw her," Kurama said, with more than a splash of amusement, "though I never imagined this was what you had meant by ensuring that she exercised more."

Like her namesake, Minamino the mouse was a quick learner and eager to please. So far, she seemed to be smarter than the average lab mouse or in the least was lucky enough to scurry out of anyone's immediate line of sight. But she was a small and sneaky little thief that the Academy had yet to notice as she liberated yen note after yen note from their dorm rooms and open purses and wallets and brought them to Hiei.

Having slid down back onto his bed, Kuwabara still sat with his back pressed against the wall. "I thought I heard something scratching and squeaking at night," he said and shuddered. "God, how can you stand letting some nasty rat climb all over you? Don't they carry diseases?"

"So do you but I let you stay here." Not for lack of trying to get rid of him, though his endeavors to claim his dorm room for himself were not finished. If it wasn't for Sister Midori's insistence that he had to possess a 'legitimate' reason for her to remove him, he would have already succeeded.

"You better keep it in its lab cage," the oaf insisted. "I'm serious! First chance I get I'm layin' traps down, shrimp."

"Move out then. Minamino can have your bed," Hiei said, utterly done with the entire room's stupidity. First, Yusuke wouldn't shut up about Takenaka, then Kuwabara sputtered nonsense, and now Yusuke and Kuwabara were stupidly staring at him like he had said something shocking. Even Kurama was looking at him curiously.

"...You're talking about the mouse, right?" Yusuke asked, blinking.

_Fuck!_

"It doesn't shut up and it annoys me," Hiei quickly explained as he turned away to cover his slip and to escape everyone's prolonged stares. "I would've named it after one of you idiots but Minamino came to mind first."

"I think he likes you," Yusuke said to Kurama and snickered.

Hiei knew it was just a stupid joke but damn it if he didn't want to punch Yusuke... The only reason he didn't was the possibility of his actions actually admitting to the deeper truth.

"It's quite an honor," Kurama said playfully.

"I hate all of you," Hiei grumbled and stewed as Minamino the mouse, having stuffed the last bit of her cookie into her mouth, squeaked and scrambled to get out of Hiei's pocket and back out into the campus to earn herself another treat.

-o-

_In decisive conclusion, the test_ _sample_ _shows…_ Yet again, Kurama Minamino laid his pen down but this time he closed his journal, certain that it would be a while before he reopened it, if at all tonight. He looked over and saw that it was nearly eleven-thirty and yet all the progress he had made in the past hour amounted to scribbling down one sentence fragment he had no interest in finishing.

The thing was he had not planned on being in the labs tonight. In fact, he had planned on taking the night off—no studying, no homework, and no research at all. He had requested the dorm living room specifically for tonight to introduce Hiei to classic _Ultraman_ episodes _._ While not quite in Hiei's film genre of choice, there were men in rubber monster suits fighting and wrestling in micro-scale cities, spark explosions and lasers, and an energy and camp charm to their predictable but comforting storylines. Kurama hadn't watched the show since he was little but he was fairly positive that he would not be wasting their time. If nothing else, they could watch a few episodes, point out their flaws, and then Kurama could pop in _The Brain That Wouldn't Die,_ something Hiei was bound to like.

But none of those plans had came to pass. As soon as their study session ended, Hiei had vanished and remained elsewhere. Kurama noted his peculiar, distinct silence through much of their discussion. Hiei was never the most talkative one of their four but he did tend to pepper in his thoughts and insults more often than that. It wasn't until Kuwabara had threatened his pet mouse that Hiei had spoken.

_A pet mouse with a very particular, peculiar name…_

Kurama was still trying to gather his thoughts on that matter. He had wanted to talk to Hiei about it in private—whether before or a few episodes into _Ultraman_ , Kurama had not settled upon. In all likelihood, he was overthinking matters. Her name didn't have to mean anything and yet that didn't change the fact that Hiei had named his mouse after him.

Her name had came first—bequeathed to her in a fit of annoyance, no doubt, just as Hiei had said—but that did not explain as to why she had stayed affectionately named after him after they had became friends. Much as Hiei scoffed and denied, Kurama knew well that he cared for his mouse. Perhaps it was a far stretch to connect the two and yet Kurama could not shake the coincidence. He knew well that Hiei did not express his emotions well or in typical ways—though for that matter, neither did Kurama.

If Hiei's walls were spiked, plentiful, and unyielding, Kurama's were made of water—shifting, evasive, and possessing the propensity to turn to ice at a moment's notice. He only let people wade in so deep and most were never allowed beyond the initial surf. Anytime anyone grew too close to him or if he had suspicions about them, he pushed them away, expunging his feelings toward them with a sudden tidal wave. His anger, his worries, and the rest of his unpleasant emotions he drowned or repressed in a case of ice.

But somehow and with Kurama's own help, Hiei had slipped past his fluid emotional walls and that presented its own worries and thoughts Kurama had yet to fully gather. As paradoxical as it was, Kurama had wanted a friend and he had gotten that in Hiei, and yet he was uncomfortable with letting him get close to him.

_I see why_ _Hiei would rather open up to a_ _lab rat_ _than me,_ Kurama sighed, tilting his head down and letting his bangs cast a shadow over his eyes. _It's easier to be close and closed off if the other side is blissfully indifferent_ _to how you feel._

Truth be told, it wasn't just the mouse's name. Or Yusuke's harmless tease. Or the way Hiei had turned away, immediately layered with the harshness of his voice as he coldly insulted the room to quickly gloss over any questionable, exposed emotion. It was all three and the months of growing close enough to Hiei to know what truths lie between his rough words and harsher actions.

_I never thought this..._ Kurama thought as stepped away from his workstation and walked around the lab.

No, that wasn't quite the truth. Kurama had his suspicions—none he wanted to believe just yet, not without talking to Hiei again to confirm or deny. But a thought, like a concentrated dye, had dripped into and saturated his water walls with color and no amount of ebb and flow could bleach out the thought entirely. After all, until several hours ago, Kurama had never considered the possibility that Hiei might possess feelings of an entirely different attachment for him.

Kurama could be wrong, of course. Much as his friends, admirers, and the vast majority of the Academy student body insisted otherwise, Kurama _could_ be mistaken, wrong, incorrect, and assume possibilities prematurely without having all the facts.

But if he wasn't…

That line of thought was something Kurama did not want to entertain. He had presumed enough already, his unfortunate habit of considering all courses and avenues of an idea being what had tripped him onto this path in the first place.

Kurama tried to throw himself into his work but he had no patience or focus for it. With every slide he prepared and set under the microscope, his mind slipped farther and farther out of sync from his task at hand. If there were positive results he could observe, note, or speculate upon, he could distract himself but there weren't.

_What now?_ His unchallenged thoughts asked, as Kurama scoured and searched his samples with growing haste. _Where do you go from here? Or do you go anywhere?_ His microscope was out of focus, not that Kurama had bothered to correct it even after he noticed. _If I say nothing, nothing changes. Everything stays as it is._

_...Is there harm in wanting everything to remain as it is?_ Kurama wondered, giving up the pretense of finding anything revitalized by his second solution. _Hiei will_ _avoid_ _tell_ _ing_ _me how he feels_ _and if I chose to say nothing, we'll be at a stalemate but_ _w_ _e'll remain friends. Always, never becoming more than what we are now. Frozen in place._ _Cold, still, dead._

_It'_ _s the safe choice. You cannot lose what has not gone anywhere._

A pang of sadness washed through him. He felt the wave barrel and break against the pit of his stomach. Kurama stood holding the glass slide. _I don't want to lose him._

The wave sloshed and churned in the pit of his stomach. His sadness grew muddled as it mixed into a heavy slurry of worry and fear that threatened to turn his stomach at any given moment.

_On the off-chance_ _that the day comes when he trust_ _s me_ _enough to tell me_ _h_ _ow he feels_ _,_ _what do I tell him_ _..._

Kurama didn't know how he felt about Hiei. Well, yes and no. Of course, he cared for Hiei deeply but were those feelings romantic in nature? Kurama had no idea. Despite all the love professed to him, he knew more of Romanticism as a literary movement than he knew about the intricacies of romance between people. Dating had never interested him and he rarely had the time, much less the flexibility to constantly shift his schedule around to accommodate a partner's needs. Kurama would have to willingly make space to spend time with—

_I was going to, tonight,_ Kurama realized. _I_ _had_ _tossed aside all my plans_ _and structure_ _so I could_ _spend time_ _with Hiei._ _Normally, taking any sort of social break is a mental ordeal. I always felt as if I had to sacrifice my time now to improve my time on another day. But tonight I_ _hadn't thought_ _or care_ _d_ _about if it was inconvenient to me. I_ _had_ _just wanted to be with him._

Ever since Father Takenaka's death, spending time with Hiei was less of a respite than it once was. Disquiet had slipped into their comfortable silences, their playful smirks fell too quickly, and like a heavy snowfall, doubt draped over their hunched shoulders and bowed necks. Even when they managed to find joy and warmth among their friends, the slushed snow sluiced cold down their backs, reminding them of all they had to lose if they spoke out.

If only for tonight while they watched rubber suit monsters clash or a disembodied woman kept alive by science figure out her mysterious powers, Kurama had wanted to let everything feel all right again, to resemble the peace and normalcy they once knew. These days it seemed like Hiei was the only part of his life that let him feel something other than worry and uncertainty. Kurama had no doubt that Enma Daioh still planned on acquiring him for his labs. And then there was whatever the hell Doctor Pai's intentions were...

Kurama never did find any record validating Doctor Pai's claim that she was once a Sacred Heart alumni.

_T_ _here's something different, something I know nothing about_ _going on,_ he thought as he locked the lab door behind him after clearing his workstations. _I_ _'ve never been this way before. I've never been_ _this_ _confused_ _and_ _uncertain_ _of_ _my next action_ _. I_ _ha_ _ve always let logic and reason propel my choices. This time… I can_ _not_ _. Not entirely._

As Kurama stepped away from the lab, he stopped as he noticed a ball of white fluff scurrying down the hall. It was a wonder to him as to how Hiei's mouse had thus far gone undetected. It was one thing for a single mouse to go accounted for in the Science Hall's animal inventory. It was another that said mouse freely roamed the campus and not one complaint had ever been made.

"It seems Hiei taught you stealth as well," Kurama said as he set his backpack on the hallway floor. Minamino the mouse halted and ran half-circles in hesitation before she proceeded to avoid Kurama's outstretched hand entirely in favor of climbing onto his backpack. As she walked along its zipper and scoured for any opening, Kurama had to appreciate the extent to which Hiei's lessons had gone and the mouse's extraordinary intelligence.

_The things Hiei could accomplish when motivated enough to do so…_ he thought, carefully opening his backpack and removing a notebook, as his furry namesake climbed right along inside. After scribbling down a short message, Kurama ripped out and folded over the page corner in half and then sandwiched it inside a crisp yen note.

"He won't hide from you," he said as he crouched down and held the yen just inside his backpack. It didn't take for long for Minamino the mouse to come investigating. Having found nothing of monetary value inside anyway, Hiei's mouse climbed out of Kurama's bag and sat poking her twitching nose around the banknote. She was wary, no doubt, to be offered the money but the cash passed the mouse's sniff test. Minamino the mouse snatched the money and half scampered, half tumbled down his backpack and down the hall in hot search of her awaiting reward.

_Godspeed, Minamino_ , Kurama thought, smiling softly as he turned and headed to the stairwell.

Not knowing if his message would reach Hiei or whether Hiei would even come looking, Kurama Minamino waited in the library and since tonight was a night of respite, or in the least it was a night of no interest in his research, Kurama grabbed a copy of short stories by Haruki Murakami and found a chair in one of the more visible reading areas on the second floor. Kurama was used to selecting more secluded areas for the two of them to meet without interruption but he doubted that many of his admirers would be flocking to the library at midnight.

His roommate Kaitou, on the other hand, did possess a penchant for late hours at the library. He did not typically approach Kurama. _Not without reason_ , he thought, reluctantly noting his page number as his roommate's shadow loomed over beside him and stopped.

"Fancy meeting you here, Minamino," Kaitou said, a smug joy filtering into his calm, measured voice. "And here I thought you would be in the dorm living room."

"My plans were canceled, unfortunately," Kurama said, without looking away from his open book.

"Jaganshi wasn't interested in your entertainment _du jour,_ I presume?" Kaitou said as he sat down without invitation on the edge of a chair perpendicular to Kurama's and set his school briefcase between his feet. He did not relax or lean back into the chair so it seemed he did not plan on disturbing Kurama for long. He had approached and joined Kurama with a purpose, an intention. Of what, Kurama had yet to determine.

While Kaitou had known for a few days that Kurama had reserved the dorm living room and he had seen the movies he had planned on showing, Kurama still wondered how Kaitou had come to the conclusion that his movie night would be just himself and Hiei, and not say, the two of them plus Yusuke, and Kuwabara.

Kurama chose to overlook it for now. "Our schedules did not align as well as I had expected."

"Ah, yes, where does Jaganshi find the time for you in between skipping all his classes and sulking in the rafters of some great height..." Kaitou said, flashing a smug smile. It was remarkable how insufferably catlike Kaitou could smile.

Kurama offered Kaitou a polite smile and laugh. "You assume it was his schedule at fault."

"If it were yours, you would still be in the labs," Kaitou said. "Might I say it's been a long time since I've seen you reading for pleasure… Is something bothering you, Minamino?"

"Hardly," Kurama replied as he lightly shook his head no. "I simply find myself lacking focus tonight."

"You and Jaganshi have not been quarreling, have you?" Kaitou asked.

_Kaitou has never spoken about or displayed so much interest_ _in_ _Hiei…_ he thought, resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow at Kaitou's peculiar questioning. "No, we are not," he said rather tersely, as he bookmarked his page with his thumb and lowered his book. He let Kaitou know by his tone and stern gaze that he knew it was suspicious of him to ask.

"I do not mean to intrude. I had heard stories of your fight," Kaitou said, feigning deference. "You bruise like a delicate flower, by the way," he added with much smug delight. "The storymongers love to paint you grandiloquently as being left with a bouquet of violent violets splattered around your slender, porcelain white neck. They speak of you like a Victorian damsel, too pure and good for this sinful earth. You're a tragic victim of the fiendish Jaganishi's wrath."

Kurama resisted the urge to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. He had tried not to think at all about the stories being told and retold of his and Hiei's disagreement but just hearing what was no doubt just one account was blossoming a migraine.

"Your neck isn't even porcelain white," Kaitou smirked with too much enjoyment.

"This isn't what you approached me to tell me about, now was it?" Kurama asked, not caring if he sounded annoyed.

Kaitou acted surprised and then smiled again at his perceptiveness. "No, it was not in the least."

"And yet you don't mean to intrude..."

"I really don't intend," Kaitou said."However, yes, there is something I would like to show you and it does concern Jaganshi."

"Pardon me, Kaitou, but I doubt you have anything I'm not already familiar with," Kurama scoffed while managing to not sound rude and signaled he was through talking by relaxing into the curve of his seat and reopening his book. "Now if you wish to offer me your academic interpretation of "The Second Bakery Attack", I would be most open to discussion."

"If you know everything there is to know about Jaganshi, please if you will," Kaitou said as he drew a square paper from his school briefcase, "enlighten me on the context behind this photograph."

While he let himself express a small measure of curiosity, Kurama took the photograph mostly just to humor his roommate. He expected some incriminating photo of Hiei stealing desserts out of the cafeteria kitchen or one placing him at the scene of a recent prank. He did not expect to see macabre and torture so flagrantly on display and on a younger, familiar face.

"What are you showing me?" Kurama asked, his voice quiet with shock, as he sat up.

"You don't know? ...My, my," Kaitou said, taking his school briefcase, as he rose from his seat.

"Kaitou, what is this?" he demanded.

"A copy of a copy of a photo, more or less." His intentionally feigned obtuseness was infuriating.

Kurama quickly stood up from his chair as Kaitou saw fit that now was the best time to leave. "That's not what I asked."

"I don't know what it is. I thought you would," an all too pleased Kaitou said, relishing in knowing something Kurama did not, as he paused mid-step and looked back at him over his shoulder. "Maybe ask Jaganshi."

"It's not him," Kurama said.

As Kaitou walked away, he calmly said, "Maybe it isn't."

Kurama had questions but it was clear that Kaitou was in no mood to answer him and he left accomplishing exactly what he had set out to do, no doubt. While he could admit his loss, Kurama did not like it when others gained the upper hand on him. He thought he had eluded Kaitou and quelled his curiosity but, like a hound mad with the scent of a fox trapped outside its den, Kaitou had persistently dug until he had made himself a hole he could wiggle on through.

As proud as he no doubt felt about his victory over Kurama, he had given up what small leverage he had over him and Kurama knew now that Kaitou still had not kept his promise and forgotten to stay out of his personal matters. Kaitou may have squeezed himself through one entrance but a fox's den always had multiple entries and exits. Still, if Kaitou had managed to find out about this, he wondered what else his hunt might of uncovered.

Swallowing the sour taste in his mouth, Kurama realized he had crinkled the photo in his hand. He looked at the photo again. He had taken a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare himself but even then the depravity was too graphic to ever not induce some form of emotional shock. The child's sunken, weary eyes stared wide and frozen at him and questioned as to what fresh hell the photographer was here to inflict upon him.

Kurama tried to find some small detail—a birth mark, a too long nose, or a wrong shaped mouth—that would let him refute Kaitou's claim that the child was Hiei but the more he looked, the more he saw Hiei. For many reasons, beyond the physical similarities, it just made _sense_. His misanthropy and asocial tendencies, his hostility, his nigh inability to trust, his insomnia, the aged scar down his leg... _it made sense._

_It's not him_ , Kurama told himself again in the hopes of convincing himself this time as he shredded the photocopy. If it wasn't him, then Kurama didn't have to think about it, he didn't have to process and factor in this information, and he didn't and wouldn't have to ask.

_I don't want to know,_ he told himself as he located a trash bin and tossed away the pieces.

He did want to know.


End file.
